Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Saturday resisted the Trump administration’s plan to send federal officers into the city, calling the move “out-of-control” and signing an order limiting local cooperation.
Under Johnson’s executive order, the Chicago Police Department is prohibited from assisting federal agents with civil immigration enforcement or participating in related patrols, traffic stops, or checkpoints during the expected federal surge.
He also instructed all city departments to protect the constitutional rights of residents “amidst the possibility of imminent militarized immigration or National Guard deployment by the federal government.”
When asked at a news conference about federal officers “taking orders,” Johnson said: “Yeah, and I don’t take orders from the federal government.”
The mayor further barred Chicago police from covering their faces to conceal their identities, a practice commonly used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.
According to two U.S. officials, the operation could begin as soon as Sept. 5 and last about a month. They described it as part of a wider effort to boost federal law enforcement presence in Democratic-led cities, similar to what happened in Los Angeles earlier this summer. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because details had not been publicly released.
On Saturday, Trump commented on Chicago violence and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Truth Social: “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming! MAGA. President DJT”
Unlike the recent federal control of policing in Washington, D.C., the Chicago operation is not expected to involve the National Guard or military and will be centered solely on immigration enforcement rather than a broader anti-crime campaign, the officials said.
Chicago, home to a large immigrant community, and Illinois both have strong laws limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. This has often put them at odds with Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Johnson emphasized that neither city nor state officials had been consulted about the planned deployment and demanded that Trump abandon the proposal. At the news conference, he sharply criticized the president, accusing him of “behaving outside the bounds of the Constitution” and targeting Democratic-led cities in retaliation against political opponents.
“He is reckless and out of control,” Johnson said. “He's the biggest threat to our democracy that we've experienced in the history of our country.”
The White House defended the plan, saying it was aimed at public safety. “If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email Saturday.