A showdown looms this week between President Donald Trump and Illinois Democrats after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Saturday demanding the president stand down on his intent to send troops to take on crime and illegal immigration in the Windy City.
Johnson signed the “Protecting Chicago” order, a multi-departmental directive that requires federal officers to follow city policies on policing and utilizes legal action to prevent “any attempts to systematically violate the rights of Chicagoans.”
The order takes direct aim at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, requiring all federal law enforcement officers to refrain from “wearing masks” during arrests and ordering them to identify themselves by agency and badge number.
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The mayor believes that Friday, September 5, is the expected arrival date for federal forces in Chicago, according to a report by WGNTV.
“We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government,” Johnson said. “(Trump) could change his mind. He could reverse course. In fact, I encourage him to do that.”
The mayor implied President Trump’s plan to send federal help — similar to the administration’s efforts in Washington, DC — would be more disruptive than the crime rate plaguing his city.
The order stated, “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.”
In further painting an alarming picture to reporters, Mayor Johnson claimed Chicago would look like a city in a war zone or something locked down by a dictator wielding martial law, saying:
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. We do not want military checkpoints or armored vehicles on our streets, and we do not want to see families ripped apart.
According to the order, Chicago police are prevented from being assigned to “joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties alongside federal law enforcement, or military personnel, or National Guard units engaging in civil immigration enforcement.”
The White House called the mayor’s order a “publicity stunt” and pointed to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) endorsement of the surge in federal law enforcement in the district, which included the deployment of National Guard troops, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
As Breitbart News reported, earlier this month Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, and paired it with a National Guard deployment. Administration officials have credited the move with sharp declines in violent crime in the nation’s capital, including a 50-percent drop in homicides over an 11-day period.
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On Saturday, President Trump took aim not at Mayor Johnson but Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Truth Social, citing Chicago’s crime numbers. The governor called sending any military to Illinois “an invasion.”
Trump wrote, “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.”
The statement follows weeks of increasing tension between the White House and Illinois officials over crime and immigration enforcement in Chicago.
However, according to WGN, Johnson and Pritzker both say they have not received any official notification from the White House about troops coming to Chicago.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks at a news conference in a Chicago water taxi Monday, August 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Meanwhile, Trump officials have advanced plans to use Chicago’s Great Lakes Naval Station, located about 35 miles north of Chicago, to support upcoming immigration enforcement sweeps. Trump Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters the administration plans to dedicate a “large contingent” of forces to Chicago.
Not everyone in Chicago city government is pushing back on the Trump administration’s crime-fighting tactics. Democrat Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said he is open to the idea of having federal agents bolster local law enforcement.
“We saw that in Washington D.C., Mayor Bowser acknowledged a decrease in crime, in a city that was supposedly already seeing a decrease,” Lopez said. “If we can decrease beyond the published decrease that the mayor keeps touting, what’s wrong with that?”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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