In its long and storied history, Naval Station Great Lakes has had various missions. From training the nation’s sailors, to treating some 11,000 Vietnam War wounded, to hosting the first freed prisoners from the war, the base has served the nation well.
It is being asked, again, to embrace a new objective: Support immigration operations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement and deportations. With the Army’s Sheridan Reserve Center a few miles south, it is an oddball request to use the Navy base to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and, possibly, National Guard troops for duty in Chicago.
This, after all, is a military facility where buildings were used as makeshift morgues in August of 1965 following the crash of a Boeing 727. The United Airlines jetliner went down in Lake Michigan off the Lake Forest shoreline killing 30 passengers and crew.
Apparently the administration of President Donald Trump, according to reports, wants ICE agents billeted at the “Quarterdeck of the Navy,” as the 1,600-acre base alongside North Chicago is known to sailors, throughout September. They and possibly National Guard men and women then would be ready to swoop down to the Windy City, less than 40 miles away, arresting undocumented residents and patrolling the urban canyons for criminal elements.
Plans are sketchy, as many are when they first emanate from the Trump White House, but they certainly seek support on immigration operations. DHS folks have asked Navy officials for “limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs,” Matt Mogle, Great Lakes spokesman, told The Associated Press on Aug. 28.
The request comes weeks after the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to target crime, immigration and homelessness. Reports from there have Guard members doing make-work jobs of picking up trash and doing landscaping tasks. The Republican administration sent about 4,000 National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in early June with a similar excuse that crime was out of control in the City of Angels.
At Great Lakes, federal agents are expected to be given control of Building 617 on the Navy base, according to a Navy e-mail that circulated among military personnel, according to the AP. The building is currently home to the Navy College Learning Center and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Library.
Great Lakes, which dates to 1911, has about 1,150 buildings on base, including the National Museum of the American Sailor, an official Department of the Navy museum. Some 16,000 sailors pass through the installation annually for boot training, base assignments and advanced Navy schooling.
How many federal agents will be deployed to Great Lakes is unknown, but hopefully Lake County tourism marketeers already are preparing packets for the visitors, outlining sights and attractions available when rest and relaxation breaks are taken after a tough tour of duty in Chicago.
Like Fright Fest, which kicks off Sept. 13 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee; The Temporary casino at Waukegan’s Fountain Square entertainment zone; musicals at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Resort; shopping adventures at Gurnee Mills; and Hike Lake County at select forest preserves, if the agents want to get in some easy cardio.
Perhaps we’re jumping the gun because the Great Lakes spokesman said no decisions have been made nor any request offered to support a National Guard deployment. The Illinois National Guard had not received any requests regarding mobilization in Chicago as of Aug. 28, according to the AP.
But you know they’re coming, despite the best intentions and rhetoric of Illinois Democrats. In an Aug. 28 statement, Congressman Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, said: “The president’s threat to send National Guard troops to Chicago and parade masked ICE agents through Naval Station Great Lakes is an unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous action.
“I say this as loudly and clearly as possible: We will not be intimidated by President Trump nor will we sheepishly cower before his thuggish henchmen like Secretaries (Kristi) Noem and (Pete) Hegseth,” Schneider added.
Waukegan officials released a statement on Aug. 28 assuring city residents that any activities at Great Lakes “are coordinated at the federal level and do not involve local law enforcement,” adding: “We will continue to communicate openly and clearly as more information becomes available.”
Trump likes to point to Chicago as a “hellhole,” although he built a posh Trump hotel and tower in the city. He also enjoys goading Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The request to use Great Lakes as a garrison follows similar threats from Trump to send federal troops to other cities, especially those with Black mayors, as part of his administration’s broader federal push. This despite data showing crime has fallen not only in Chicago, but some of those other cities.
At the same time, he ignores cities in “red” states where the crime rates are much higher than Chicago’s. Such as Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, the home state of Vice President J.D. Vance, and Little Rock, Arkansas.
While Navy officials are braced to welcome the federal agents, they may be none too excited to have National Guard contingents on base by the time Dec. 13 rolls around. That’s when the annual Army-Navy rivalry game takes place.
This year’s grudge clash between the Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights is being held in Baltimore. That’s one of the cities Trump has threatened with occupation by National Guard troops.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/29/naval-station-great-lakes-selle/
