CHICAGO: US President Donald Trump’s ultimate aim in sending troops to American cities is to seize control of elections in 2026, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said Sunday, calling such deployments an invasion.

Trump — who has unleashed unprecedented military patrols in Los Angeles and Washington to curb protests against his immigrant deportation drive and combat what he deems out-of-control crime — has said he’s also considering sending troops to cities like Baltimore and Chicago.

Democrat Pritzker said there had been no effort by the Trump administration to coordinate such plans with officials in Illinois, a Democratic stronghold.

“So it’s clear that, in secret, they’re planning this, well, it’s an invasion with US troops, if they in fact do that,” Pritzker told CBS Sunday show “Face the Nation.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earlier told the network she would be adding resources to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Illinois, but that any decision to send National Guard reservists or other troops was up to Trump.

If troops are sent along with ICE, “they’ll be in court pretty quickly, because that is illegal,” Pritzker said.

“National Guard troops, any kind of troops, on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency.”

Pritzker alleged that Trump has aims “other than fighting crime” in sending military forces to cities or states that don’t ask for it.

“The other aims are that he’d like to stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections. He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control,” Pritzker said.

Trump to date has mentioned only Democratic cities that did not vote for him in discussing potential troop deployments, and has called Pritzker “that slob” while slamming him for speaking out against troop deployments.—AFP