The mayor of Chicago pushed back Saturday, August 30, against what he called the "out-of-control" Trump administration's plan to surge federal officers into the nation's third-largest city, which could take place within days. The Chicago Police Department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The mayor directed all city departments to guard the constitutional rights of Chicago residents "amidst the possibility of imminent militarized immigration or National Guard deployment by the federal government." When asked during a news conference about federal agents who are presumably "taking orders," Johnson replied: "Yeah, and I don't take orders from the federal government."
Johnson also blocked Chicago police from wearing face coverings to hide their identities, as most federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have adopted since the Trump administration took charge this year.
Chicago is home to a large immigrant population, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country's strongest rules against cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and state at odds with President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. Johnson's order builds on the city's longtime stance, saying neither Chicago nor Illinois officials have sought or been consulted on the federal presence and demanding Trump stand down on those plans.
Johnson had harsh words for Trump during his news conference, accusing the president of "behaving outside the bounds of the Constitution" and seeking a federal presence in blue cities as retribution against his political rivals.
"He is reckless and out of control," Johnson said. "He's the biggest threat to our democracy that we've experienced in the history of our country."
In response, the White House insisted the potential flood of federal agents was about "cracking down on crime."
"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 an email Saturday.