Chicago Mayor Blasts Trump Military Threats As 'Flagrant Violation' Of Constitution

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.

“The fact of the matter is violent crime is actually down in Chicago,” Johnson said Sunday.

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.

Any federal effort to send troops to Chicago follows Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard to both Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles in an alleged bid to combat crime and quell protests over immigration enforcement.

Trump has named multiple cities, including Chicago, New York and Baltimore, as other potential targets for similar deployments, though his purview over D.C. is unique because the city’s National Guard answers directly to the president since it’s not a state.

Trump’s actions in Los Angeles continue to face legal challenges, something Johnson signaled that Illinois leaders would also seek to pursue if Trump followed through on the reported plans in Chicago.

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Johnson on Sunday cited the 10th Amendment, which establishes the powers that states have, as a key provision that establishes the limits of federal authority.

Trump has invoked Title 10 of federal code for his use of troops in Los Angeles over the objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). That provision enables the president to federalize state troops to address an “invasion” or “rebellion” and the White House previously cited it to argue that troops were needed to protect federal personnel and property.