X posts – Video showing military vehicles isn’t proof of military deployment in Chicago

President Donald Trump has floated Chicago as the next city where he might send the National Guard, but a social media video claiming it’s already happened is premature. 

A video posted Aug. 23 on X shows military vehicles in traffic alongside cars at a traffic light. You can also hear sirens and see a fire department vehicle parked in a parking lot on the side of the road.

“The military is here, shawty, the military is here. They on the streets,” says the video narrator while driving past some Humvees. 

The caption says: “The military’s already showing up in Chicago just weeks before the Pentagon’s planned National Guard deployment.”

Is that true?

Immediately, there are reasons to suspect the video is dubious. When a commenter asked the user who first shared the video Aug. 17 on TikTok if the military was really on the streets, the user replied in another video, “No, I am a liar, liar, pants on fire.” The user also shared the video before Trump said he wanted to officially expand military deployment to Chicago.

An Illinois National Guard spokesperson told PolitiFact the guard didn’t deploy the military vehicles seen in the video in response to a federal order.

“As of this time, we have not received any orders — federal or state — to activate forces for duty in Chicago,” said Brad Leighton, Illinois National Guard public affairs director.

Leighton said that while he can’t make out the unit information on the back of the two military vehicles, the National Guard has several armories based in Chicago, including two within the city limits, and a maintenance facility nearby.

Leighton said that the guard moves vehicles around the city for maintenance reasons and community events, among other reasons.

“It is impossible to say whether these vehicles are from the National Guard or Army Reserve, which also has facilities near Chicago,” Leighton said. 

A closer look at the video shows it was recorded in Chicago Ridge in front of Billy Boy’s, a fast-casual American and Greek food restaurant. Billy Boy’s is 3.9 miles from an Army National Guard recruiting office and 5.1 miles from an Army Reserve Center.

On Aug. 11, Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C., after declaring a public safety emergency. While he said Chicago is next on his list of places to deploy the military to combat crime, homelessness and illegal immigration, no orders have been published on the White House website. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Aug. 23 that Illinois has received no outreach from the federal government, and the state has requested no federal assistance.

This video doesn’t show the military “already showing up in Chicago” before a potential National Guard deployment. We rate this claim False.