Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks throughout a information convention at River Level Park, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
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Nam Y. Huh/AP
Chicago’s mayor has restricted how a lot his metropolis’s police division can cooperate with federal immigration brokers, in response to threats from the Trump administration to “ramp up” immigration enforcement operations within the metropolis.
On Saturday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an government order barring the town’s police division from collaborating with federal officers conducting civil immigration enforcement operations, and with U.S. army personnel on police patrols.
Johnson, a Democrat, mentioned Trump was appearing outdoors “the bounds of the Structure” by threatening to ship extra federal legislation enforcement officers and even the Nationwide Guard to Chicago towards the desires of state and native leaders.
“We don’t wish to see tanks in our streets. We don’t wish to see households ripped aside,” Johnson mentioned. “We don’t want grandmothers thrown into the again of unmarked vans. We do not wish to see homeless Chicagoans harassed or disappeared by federal brokers.”
President Trump, in a submit on his social media web site Reality Social on Saturday, criticized Illinois’ Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and advised federal forces could possibly be dispatched to the Midwest metropolis to struggle crime.
“Six individuals have been killed, and 24 individuals have been shot, in Chicago final weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, simply mentioned that he would not want assist in stopping CRIME,” Trump wrote. “He’s CRAZY!!! He higher straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”
The Trump administration not too long ago deployed Nationwide Guard members to the streets of Washington, D.C. in an effort to cut back crime within the nation’s capital.
On Sunday, Pritzker mentioned on CBS’s Face the Nation that the potential of sending the U.S. army to the streets of an American metropolis quantities to an “assault on the American individuals by the President of the US.”
Pritzker additionally mentioned Trump additionally had “different goals” apart from merely preventing crime, reminiscent of disrupting the 2026 midterm elections. “He’ll simply declare that there is some downside with an election, after which he is bought troops on the bottom that may take management, if in truth he is allowed to do that,” the governor mentioned.
Although Trump himself has tied crime to a doable enhance of federal forces in Chicago, the administration is predicted to characterize the surge of legislation enforcement assets as centered particularly on immigration enforcement, the Related Press reported.
White Home “border czar” Tom Homan mentioned final week that there could be a “ramp-up” of immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and different cities, together with New York and Los Angeles.
“All these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] the place we all know public security threats are being launched day by day into this nation — particularly in these cities — we will deal with that,” Homan instructed reporters.
Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned Sunday that the federal government intends to “add extra assets” to ongoing ICE operations in Chicago however didn’t disclose any particulars.
Final week the Trump administration requested the Naval Station Nice Lakes for assist with immigration operations, together with “services, infrastructure, and different logistical must assist DHS operations,” in response to the AP.
Underneath Mayor Johnson’s order, Chicago Police Division officers may also need to put on official police uniforms and shall be prohibited from carrying face masks so metropolis residents can distinguish them from federal officers, he mentioned. (A DHS spokesperson beforehand instructed NPR that some immigration brokers put on masks to guard themselves from rising threats.)
On Sunday, the White Home criticized Johnson’s government order.
“If these Democrats centered on fixing crime in their very own cities as a substitute of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities could be a lot safer,” White Home spokeswoman Abigail Jackson mentioned in an announcement. “Cracking down on crime shouldn’t be a partisan concern, however Democrats affected by TDS try to make it one. They need to take heed to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who not too long ago celebrated the Trump Administration’s success in driving down violent crime in Washington DC.”
Johnson mentioned he believed the immigration crackdown might start as early as Friday.
