Chicago – August 25, 2025
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson hit back at President Donald Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to the city, calling the potential deployment of troops a “flagrant violation of the Constitution.”
“The city of Chicago does not need a military occupation. That’s not what we need,” Johnson said during a Sunday interview on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” “We will take up legal action if necessary.”
Trump on Friday suggested Chicago is the next city where he’d plan to intervene, and a Washington Post report on Saturday stated that the Pentagon had been planning a military deployment there for weeks.
Johnson and other state leaders, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have emphasized that they haven’t requested federal aid and that violent crime in the city is on the decline.
According to data from the city and the Chicago Police Department, overall crime has declined 15% since 2023, and a number of incidents, including fatal and nonfatal shootings, are all down compared to 2024, Time reports.
In a Saturday post on X, Pritzker echoed Johnson’s sentiments, emphasizing that “there is no emergency” in the state to warrant the deployment of National Guard or active duty military.
“If Democrats spent half as much time solving their own city’s crime problems as they did criticizing the President for wanting to Make America Safe Again, their constituents would be much better off,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson replied in a statement.
