The Trump administration is threatening to withhold funding from states that block military forces in U.S. cities, accusing Democratic leaders of “aiding and abetting” domestic terrorism.
As a legal battle erupts over Donald Trump’s law and order agenda, the administration has warned that it will make Democrats pay unless the president gets his way to surge troops into Chicago and Oregon.
The move comes after the White House ordered 300 Illinois National Guard troops to be federalized—plus hundreds more from Texas—supposedly to protect ICE officers and federal buildings after weeks of protests.
However, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says he was never consulted, and his state, along with the city of Chicago, filed a lawsuit on Monday arguing that the president’s moves are “illegal, dangerous and unconstitutional.”
Trump has also suffered a setback in Oregon, where a Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily blocked his bid to send troops into Portland after finding there was no violent insurgency to justify it.
But the administration hit back on Monday by ratcheting up its rhetoric against Democratic leaders and threatening to withhold money from blue states.
Speaking on Fox News, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin cited two cases that took place in recent days: the first involving a journalist who was “jumped and subsequently arrested by the local police department there for simply defending himself”; the second involving a female journalist who was attacked and “punched in the eye by a mob.”
“When do these leaders actually step in and get this chaos and violence out of control?” she asked.
🚨 BREAKING: DHS Assistant Sec. Tricia McLaughlin accuses Democrat officials of “aiding and abetting DOMESTIC TERRORISTS who are attacking law enforcement and the public” and mentions federal funding may be pulled. pic.twitter.com/XLObtED1RM
— Luca Taner (@LucaTaner) October 6, 2025
“President Trump has shown real leadership to surge resources here. We will continue to do that, but I think he’s also going to be looking at funding. If these leaders are going to be aiding and abetting domestic terrorists, should we really be sending public funds there?”
The Daily Beast has asked the White House what programs or initiatives could stand to lose money in Democrat cities. It deferred to DHS, which is yet to provide details.
But the use of the military in U.S. cities has nonetheless become a growing tool for the administration, which sent troops to Los Angeles earlier this year as protests raged over mass deportations, and then surged national guards to Washington DC in August under the guise of a crime crackdown.
At a meeting of top generals last week, Trump also suggested that “dangerous” U.S. cities should be used as military training grounds.
“We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don’t wear uniforms,” he said in an often chilling speech.
“At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out.”
Democrat governors, mayors and the courts have so far managed to slow Trump’s plans.
In a particularly scathing ruling over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut maintained the administration had used false claims of violence against immigration officials to “justify” the deployment.
This came after Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
However, Immergut, who Trump appointed in 2019, wrote that “nothing in the record suggests anything of this sort was occurring ‘every night’ outside the Portland ICE building.”
The Illinois and Chicago lawsuit filed on Monday also pushed back, arguing that “the American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor.”
Speaking after the lawsuit was filed, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Trump had claimed that his deportation program was to get rid of the “worst of the worst” illegal immigrants.
“In reality, they are going after anyone who objects to families being ripped apart, and community members being disappeared. ICE lies, and people die,” he said.
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