WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chicago police will not collaborate with any National Guard troops or federal agents if U.S. President Donald Trump deploys them to the city in coming days as threatened, Mayor Brandon Johnson said on Saturday.
Johnson, surrounded by other city leaders, signed an executive order aimed at preparing Chicago for any U.S. enforcement operation as Trump has done in Los Angeles and Washington, and urged the Republican president to reverse course.
“This is about making sure that we are prepared,” he told reporters as he signed the order, adding that the order aimed to offer “real, clear guidance” to city government workers and “all the Chicagoans of how we can stand up against this tyranny.”
Johnson, a Democrat, said the executive action affirms that Chicago police officers will not collaborate with U.S. military personnel on police patrols or immigration enforcement.
It also directs them to wear their official police uniforms and not to wear masks to clearly distinguish themselves from any federal operations, he added.
Trump has been threatening to expand his federal crackdown on Democrat-led U.S. cities to Chicago, casting the use of presidential power as an urgent effort to tackle crime even as city officials cite declines in homicides, gun violence and burglaries.
Local officials and residents in Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, have been preparing for the possible arrival of federal agents and troops, and Johnson said they have received credible reports that action could come within days.
The White House dismissed Johnson’s move and accused Democrats of trying to make tackling 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.
While it is unclear how much state and local officials can do to push back against any U.S. deployment, the mayor said he was pursuing any legal measure available, including possible lawsuits.
“We will use the courts if that’s necessary,” Johnson said.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he wants to be asked for federal agents to be deployed to various cities even as he continues to threaten to send them anyway without any formal request.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat whose name has also been floated as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, has said the president lacks the legal authority to deploy troops to his state if not requested by the governor.
That differs from Washington, a federal city whose police department Trump took over.
Previous deployments of the National Guard to Chicago were coordinated with local officials. A president’s power to send in troops is limited under U.S. law, but there are no restrictions on the deployment of federal law enforcement officers such as ICE agents.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Richard Chang)
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