Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday, titled the “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” aimed at preventing the potential deployment of the National Guard by President Donald Trump to address the city’s rampant crime issues.
Johnson, a far-left Democrat, claims the order is necessary to defend residents’ constitutional rights amid fears of what he calls an “unconstitutional and illegal military occupation.”
The executive order comes as the Trump administration considers using Naval Station Great Lakes, a Navy base near Chicago, as a staging ground for immigration enforcement operations involving more than 200 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents.
Trump has been vocal about addressing Chicago’s crime woes, recently stating after deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., that his team would “straighten out” Chicago next, calling it “a mess” under an “incompetent mayor.”
“The City of Chicago will do everything in our power to defend our democracy and protect our communities. With this executive order, we send a resounding message to the federal government: we do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city,” Johnson said in a statement.
“We do not want military checkpoints or armored vehicles on our streets and we do not want to see families ripped apart. We will take any action necessary to protect the rights of all Chicagoans,” the mayor continued. “Protecting Chicago is the next step in the work we have been doing to defend our city from federal overreach and illegal action.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
According to the initiative, the Chicago Police Department would remain a city agency and urges federal law enforcement to abide by city laws on policing. Johnson threatened legal action if they didn’t. This would include barring officers from concealing their identities with masks, making them use active body cameras during engagements, and requiring them to wear identifying information such as badges and uniforms, and also stating CPD will not work with federal or military units in the city.
The order reaffirms that the Chicago Police Department will stay under local control and explicitly calls on Trump to “stand down” from any National Guard threats.
“I do not take this executive action lightly,” Johnson said. “I would’ve preferred to work more collaboratively to pass legislation … but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of time. We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some kind of militarized activity by the federal government.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another Democrat, has also opposed federal intervention despite Trump’s success in Washington, DC.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to News Nation, “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. Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue, but Democrats suffering from TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] are trying to make it one.”
“They should listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently celebrated the Trump Administration’s success in driving down violent crime in Washington DC,” Jackson said.
Bowser recently praised the Trump administration’s success in reducing violent crime in the nation’s capital after similar federal actions.
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