Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered forceful rhetoric Monday against what he dubbed President Donald Trump’s “war on Chicago,” but offered few concrete answers about how to stop it ahead of an expected deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the area in support of the federal government’s deportation campaign targeting the nation’s third-largest city.
Speaking at a news conference on the West Side in which he signed an executive order he said would deter U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson told Chicagoans to stand together against the White House’s mounting threats of a military occupation.
His latest line in the sand came after weeks of roiling standoffs between federal immigration agents and protesters in Chicago and Broadview, where a suburban ICE facility has become ground zero for the local response against Trump’s “Operation Midway” deportation blitz.
“In the coming days and weeks, we may be pushed, if not forced, to take even more dramatic action if this administration continues to escalate and provoke our people,” Johnson told reporters. Pressed to elaborate, he said, “Everything. Everything, whatever is necessary to ensure that we’re protecting people.”
The city and state’s struggle against the White House’s efforts again moved to the legal arena after Gov. JB Pritzker filed a lawsuit Monday seeking an emergency order blocking the deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. The city is also a plaintiff in the suit.
Some of the explosive events that captured national attention and were roundly condemned by Johnson on Monday include federal agents apparently: raiding a South Shore apartment and zip-tying residents, tear-gassing a Northwest Side street near an elementary school and detaining an alderman.
The mayor did not offer many new details on how his administration would fight a military deployment beyond the legal action and affirming that Chicago police would protect First Amendment rights. But Johnson did look at the TV cameras and assert, “I’m calling on this president to leave us the freak alone. We haven’t bothered anybody” — while also hinting that Trump may chicken out once again.
“Well look, this president has waffled in multiple occasions, which I believe is evident, that we have been so emphatic in our position and resolved in our presentation,” Johnson said. “As far as the people of Chicago: Continue to stand firm, continue to document the rage that this administration is promulgating against the people of this city.”
On Sunday evening, the Tribune reported the Trump administration plans to deploy 300 Illinois National Guard troops to the Chicago region for at least 60 days, according to a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Illinois National Guard leadership. Pritzker later revealed hundreds of Texas National Guard members were preparing to head to Illinois, which Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed was “fully authorized” by him.
Pritzker and Johnson said later Sunday that the move amounted to “Trump’s invasion” and “war on the people of Chicago,” respectively. Also that evening, a judge issued an emergency ruling to stop the president’s deployment of California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
Pritzker’s lawsuit against the Trump administration claims the “physical deployment of the Texas National Guard troops to Illinois was planned for” Monday. A source familiar with the plans told the Tribune on Monday morning that some 200 National Guard troops from Texas were expected to arrive by Monday night.
It was not immediately clear what the timeline for an Illinois federal troop deployment would be. The Hegseth memo didn’t specify exactly where the deployments would take place, but said the chief of the National Guard Bureau, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of U.S. Northern Command would coordinate details about the mobilization with the Illinois National Guard.
The possible new phase in Trump’s ongoing crackdown in Chicago followed a hairy weekend of anti-ICE demonstrations that were amplified by the White House and conservatives as purported pretext to justify a military occupation. How Johnson will toe the line between forcefully resisting the federal government creeping into his staunchly liberal city while not antagonizing Trump further is one of the major questions surrounding his mayorship these next several weeks.
Johnson’s Monday executive orders were aimed at blocking federal immigration agents from public and private buildings Monday as the arrival of Illinois and Texas National Guard troops sent by Trump loomed.
He said the measure establishes “ICE-free zones” at city property and “unwilling” private businesses. The order creates a “broad civic shield that limits the reach of harmful enforcement practices,” he added.
The order prohibits federal immigration authorities from staging and carrying out operations on city-owned land, including parking lots, vacant lots and garages, according to the mayor’s office. Johnson also plans to support private property owners in banning ICE from working on their property without warrants by distributing signage stating that they are unwelcome.
“We cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks or balances. Nobody is above the law. If you break the law, you should be held accountable,” he said.
The mayor signed the order on a wooden desk bearing the emblem of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union Army veterans association. A red-and-white metal sign stood next to him.
“This property is owned and/or controlled by the City of Chicago,” it said. “It may not be used for civil immigration enforcement.”
But it is not clear how federal agents, who have shown a willingness to smash city rules, will be treated if they nonetheless use land from which they are now banned. Pressed if police would be used to enforce the rule, Johnson did not share a clear response. Instead, he named his Department of Law as a mechanism. “If someone is in violation of the law, we’ll take them to court,” he said.
Trump’s administration immediately decried the move, calling it “sick” in a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Later Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took another jab at Chicago by reading aloud a headline on the city’s weekend gun violence toll.
“I don’t think any American would disagree that Chicago needs more law enforcement,” Leavitt said while waving a news article with Johnson’s face at the center of the printout. “Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place? They should be concerned about this.”
At the same time, the mayor’s control over the local Police Department has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration raids.
On Saturday, an immigration agent shot a Chicago activist who allegedly rammed a car federal authorities were using during operations in Brighton Park. A video of a collision involving federal agents went viral, but Department of Homeland Security officials later said that was a separate incident of a driver speeding into a federal law enforcement vehicle nearby.
Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, both of Chicago, are each charged in a criminal complaint filed Sunday with forcibly assaulting, impeding and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer in the first incident. Chicago police responded to both scenes, according to a department spokesperson despite DHS claims that sought to attack Chicago police protocol.
“Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, incorrectly stating that the governor had jurisdiction over the Police Department. “There is a growing crowd and we are deploying special operations to control the scene.”
Mayoral foe Ald. Raymond Lopez posted on X an apparent internal directive from CPD’s chief of patrol ordering “NO UNITS WILL RESPOND” to the Brighton Park intersection of the crash that resulted in a shooting. Lopez, a frequent guest on Fox News, condemned how “An armed women(sic) drives into @ICEgov agents and @Chicago_Police issues an order to stand down!”
The photo of the order posted by Lopez — which was timestamped to a couple hours after the initial shooting, citing a “large crowd” — was later amplified by an official account run by the White House.
Johnson did not answer multiple questions Monday on whether Chicago police were indeed ordered to not respond to the scene but called for a “full investigation” after officers were seen being tear-gassed near federal agent presence this weekend.
“What I can confirm is that our Police Department responds to every single 911 call,” the mayor said.
Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling defended his Chief of Patrol Jon Hein, saying he would not bend to “political BS.”
“Our officers were not told to stand down,” said Snelling, who appeared alone at a Monday news conference at Chicago’s public safety headquarters.
However, sources confirmed to the Tribune the authenticity of the computer message attributed to Hein.
Snelling added, “there are some things we can work on” regarding communication in situations such as Saturday’s standoff between federal agents and protesters.
“When a crime is being committed, CPD is going to show up, and it doesn’t matter if there are ICE agents there,” Snelling said. “We have a duty to investigate and protect our city.”
Like other blue cities, Chicago is bound by a sanctuary city ordinance that prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating in federal immigration actions. That law has been a prime target of the White House during Trump’s second term, while Johnson has resolutely defended its utility in protecting the city’s immigrant community and ensuring trust between them and Chicago police.
As Johnson listed off a host of aggressive actions taken by federal agents in the last week, he focused on last week’s raid of a South Shore apartment building that saw federal forces rappel from helicopters.
“This was about a show of authoritarianism, a forceful display of tyranny,” he said. They sent a clear message to all Chicagoans. They said, ‘We do not respect your rights. We can do anything we want, and we will film it and put it on social media.’”
Johnson said ICE must leave the city, calling for “more drastic” resistance to Trump’s efforts.
“If we allow this administration to take away due process for anyone, we will allow this administration to take away due process for everyone,” he said. “ICE lies, and people die. We cannot allow this to continue. We must take action more drastic than what we have done before, because what we are seeing is a more radical attempt to undermine our democracy.”
Chicago Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky contributed.
