Chicago Mayor Orders City to Counter Trump Troop Deployment

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday instructing city departments not to collaborate with an anticipated deployment of National Guard troops by President Donald Trump as part of a federal immigration crackdown.

The order instructed for Chicago Police not to wear masks, and not to “collaborate with federal agents on joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties including civil immigration enforcement.”

All city departments, it added, “are prohibited from participating in any enforcement actions aimed at violating Chicagoan's rights to peacefully assemble and protest. ”

The mayor's order said that the city “will pursue all available legal and legislative avenues to counter coordinated efforts from the federal government that violate the rights of the City and its residents, including the Constitutional rights to peacefully assemble and protest and the right to due process.”

Read more: Trump Says Chicago Is Next in His Crackdown on Crime. Here Are the Facts About Crime in the City

Speaking at a city hall press event to announce the order, Johnson described his measures as “the most sweeping campaign of any city in the country to protect ourselves from the threats and actions of this out-of-control administration”.

“We will protect our constitution. We will protect our city. And we will protect our people. We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart,” he said, adding that the executive order would “ensure that every Chicagoan knows their rights, that every single family is prepared, and every part of city government is directed to protect the people of Chicago from federal action.”

The order comes as Trump is reportedly weighing a deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago similar to the operation in Los Angeles earlier this summer, when he sent some 4,000 California National Guard soldiers and 700 U.S. Marines to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city.   

Johnson said on Saturday that he had received several reports that the Trump Administration plans on deploying militarized action to Chicago—possibly in the form of federal agents, National Guard troops, or active-duty military forces as early as the end of next week. He said he was working with the city council to pass legislation to prepare for any deployment, but felt he did not have the ”luxury” of time.

Tom Homan, White House border czar, told Fox & Friends this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has “a big operation up there and it’s about to get alot bigger.” He also confirmed ICE would be stepping up operations in Chicago after Labor Day, and said a “large contingent" would be involved.

Trump has escalated threats against Democratic-run cities in recent weeks, threatening to deploy National Guard troops to “address crime” in Chicago, Baltimore, and Oakland. Trump has used the precedent of his militarized takeover of Washington D.C., where the president has some authority over local police in times of emergency—although many of his actions are being challenged in court.

Read More: Trump Has Deployed Troops At Home Like No Other President. Here is Where He Has Sent Them

The president deployed over 2,000 National Guard troops and federal officers to the capital as part of what he says is a crackdown on crime. 

Although Trump has not announced that he is deploying troops to Chicago, he has hinted that the Midwestern city is next.

“After we do this, we’ll go to another location and we’ll make it safe also,” Trump told reporters on Aug. 22. “Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent, and we’ll straighten that one out, probably next.”

Trump has continuously criticized Chicago’s leadership for years and throughout his first term, even though city police data shows that Chicago violence—much like Washington D.C.’s—has dropped in recent years. Crime has decreased by 15% since 2023, according to city police data, and fatal and nonfatal shootings are down nearly 38% so far this year compared to the year before.