Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson appeared on CNN Tuesday where he asserted that President Donald Trump is an "unstable human being" who must be "checked" on his use of the military in U.S. cities.
"This president is an unstable human being, and it's right for this moment to check him, and we're calling on Congress to do its job," Johnson told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
After watching a clip of Trump speaking to senior U.S. military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on Tuesday, Blitzer asked what Johnson thought of Trump's speech where he said that the National Guard would be "going into Chicago very soon."
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on CNN on Sept. 30, 2025. (Screenshot/CNN)
Johnson called Trump's comments "appalling," and argued that both citizens and military personnel should be against the president's move to send troops to U.S. cities.
"There's no way that anyone in this country should be okay with armed militarized troops being sent to cities," he said. "These individuals, these brave women and men who signed up to serve and protect this country, they do not do it with being deployed against American citizens and residents in mind."
The mayor continued, adding, "This is not only appalling, but this is, quite frankly, an egregious attempt to undermine the sanctity of our democracy."
On Tuesday, hundreds of federal agents carried out a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" in Chicago against suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.
The FBI confirmed the operation to Fox 32 Chicago, noting that its agents assisted the U.S. Border Patrol in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. The operation — which involved almost 300 agents — targeted six people associated with the Venezuelan gang, according to Fox News senior correspondent Mike Tobin.
Footage of the operation showed agents converging on an apartment building in the area. At one point, a helicopter lowered snipers onto the building’s roof.
The development comes a day after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, D., announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is "seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois."
Two dozen people were taken into custody over the course of Tuesday's operation.
The Trump administration has deployed the National Guard to cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to address crime and assist with deportations.
Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.