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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Saturday prohibiting city police officers from collaborating with National Guard troops or federal agents if President Donald Trump follows through on his threats to deploy them to the Windy City.
“This executive order makes it emphatically clear that this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department,” Johnson said at a news conference with other city leaders.
The mayor’s order affirms that Chicago police officers will continue to enforce state and local laws, but will not work with the National Guard or federal agents on patrols, arrests, immigration enforcement or other law enforcement actions.
“We will protect our Constitution, we will protect our city, and we will protect our people,” he said. “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart. We do not want grandmothers thrown into the back of unmarked vans. We don’t want to see homeless Chicagoans harassed or disappeared by federal agents.”
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The order also instructs city police to wear their official police uniforms, continue to identify themselves, follow body camera procedures and to not wear masks so they can be clearly distinguished from any federal operations.
“The Chicago Police Department will not collaborate with military personnel on police patrols or civil immigration enforcement,” Johnson said. “We will not have our police officers who are working hard every single day to drive down crime deputized to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president.”
The order states that the deployment of federal military forces in Chicago without the consent of local authorities “undermines democratic norms, violates the City’s sovereignty, threatens civil liberties, and risks escalating violence rather than securing the peace.”
This order comes as Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have been feuding with Trump over the potential of National Guard troops being deployed to Chicago to address crime in the city.
Johnson has cited data showing that violent crime has declined in the last year, including homicides and robberies dipping by more than 30%, and shootings dropping by nearly 40%.
Pritzker has also warned Trump that “action will be met with a response” and that a federal deployment without the state’s request would be “unconstitutional” and “un-American.”
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Trump responded to the Democratic leaders last week by saying that Pritzker is “incompetent” and Johnson “no better.”
The White House dismissed Johnson’s order on Saturday, claiming that Democrats were attempting to make efforts to reduce crime a partisan issue.
“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 a statement to Reuters.
Johnson said on Saturday that he was considering any legal and legislative measures to stop the federal government, including possible lawsuits.
“We will use the courts if that’s necessary,” Johnson said.
Previous deployments of the National Guard to Chicago were coordinated with local officials, according to Reuters. The president’s authority to deploy troops is limited under U.S. law, although there are no restrictions on sending ICE agents or other federal law enforcement officers.
Trump’s threat to deploy troops to the Windy City comes after he boosted the presence of federal law enforcement in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to cut down on crime.
Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed to the streets of D.C. as part of the federal takeover of the district.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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