Chicago is once again at the center of a national controversy, as Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker have moved to resist President Donald Trump’s reported plans to deploy the National Guard and federal agents for a sweeping immigration crackdown in the city. The standoff, which has unfolded over the past week, highlights a deepening rift between local and federal authorities over how to address crime and immigration in America’s third-largest city.
On Saturday, August 30, 2025, Mayor Johnson signed an executive order outlining the city’s response to what he called “escalating threats from the federal government.” According to CNN, the order provides clear directives to city agencies and law enforcement: Chicago police are not to collaborate with federal agents on joint patrols, arrest operations, or any civil immigration enforcement. The order also urges federal law enforcement in Chicago to refrain from wearing masks, to use body cameras, and to identify themselves to the public by name and badge number. “We may see militarized immigration enforcement. We may also see National Guard troops. We may even see active duty military and armed vehicles in our streets. We have not called for this. Our people have not asked for this, but nevertheless, we find ourselves having to respond to this,” Johnson said before signing the order, as reported by CNN.
The mayor’s order further directs city departments to “pursue all available legal and legislative avenues to resist coordinated efforts from the federal government” that might violate the rights of Chicagoans. Johnson’s message was unequivocal: “With this executive order, we send a resounding message to the federal government: we do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city,” he stated, according to NewsNation. “We do not want military checkpoints or armored vehicles on our streets, and we do not want to see families ripped apart.”
The executive order comes as the Trump administration reportedly prepares a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, possibly as soon as the week following Johnson’s announcement. CNN previously reported that the administration’s plans for Chicago may differ from earlier law enforcement crackdowns in Washington, D.C., and could resemble the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles earlier this summer to quell immigration protests. Trump recently signed an executive order establishing “specialized units” in the National Guard to address crime in cities, though the practical implications of this order remain unclear.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has been outspoken in his opposition to Trump’s plans. In an interview aired Friday, August 29, 2025, on CBS Evening News, Pritzker described the administration’s actions as an “invasion” of Chicago with U.S. troops. “It’s clear that, in secret, they’re planning this. Well, it’s an invasion with U.S. troops, if they, in fact, do that,” he told CBS’ Ed O’Keefe. Pritzker went further, suggesting that Trump’s intentions go beyond fighting crime: “The other aims are that he would like to stop the elections in 2026, or, frankly, take control of those elections. He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control, if, in fact, he’s allowed to do this.”
Pritzker has repeatedly insisted that there is no crime emergency in Chicago and accused Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.” He also emphasized that the state would respond if Trump sends National Guard troops to Chicago: “We will not stand idly by if he decides to send the National Guard to intimidate Chicagoans. Action will be met with a response,” Pritzker wrote Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter), as reported by Fox News.
The White House, for its part, has dismissed the concerns of Johnson and Pritzker as political theater. In a statement to CNN and NewsNation, spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “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. Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue.” She added, “Chicago’s residents would be much safer if Pritzker actually did his job and addressed his crime problem instead of trying to be a Resistance Lib hero.”
President Trump himself weighed in on the situation via his Truth Social account on Saturday, August 30, 2025, referencing recent violence in the city: “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming! MAGA. President DJT”
Meanwhile, preparations for a federal operation in Chicago appear to be advancing. On Thursday, August 28, 2025, White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed that “a large contingent” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers would be sent to Chicago. The New York Times reported that about 200 Homeland Security officials are expected, with a draft plan requesting space for 250 department personnel at Naval Station Great Lakes near the Illinois-Wisconsin border. The plan also included requests for a tactical operations center, incident command post, parking for 140 vehicles, and storage space for medical supplies and nonlethal weapons such as rubber bullets and tear gas.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has clarified the city’s position: while the department will not interfere with the work of federal immigration enforcement officers, it will not cooperate with immigration enforcement, which is prohibited under the Illinois Trust Act. “If we know that it’s only immigration enforcement going on, our officers will not be in those areas assisting in any way when it comes to immigration enforcement,” Snelling said, as reported by NewsNation. All Chicago Police Department officers will be required to wear uniforms that clearly identify them, he added.
Governor Pritzker acknowledged that, should the operation focus on immigration enforcement, there is little state and city officials can do to prevent DHS officers and agents from being deployed to Chicago. Still, he compared the looming federal deployment to previous actions in Los Angeles and warned, “The intentions here are clear. Nothing to do with actually enforcing the law, nothing to do with actually keeping the peace. They want to inflame something. That’s what they want.”
As the city braces for possible federal action, officials are preparing for potential protests and disruptions, drawing on lessons from security planning around the Democratic National Convention earlier this summer. The Chicago Department of Law has been tasked with filing information requests with federal agencies if a crackdown begins, and city agencies are preparing to pursue all available legal avenues to resist what they see as an overreach of executive power.
The coming days will test the limits of federal and local authority, as well as the political resolve of leaders on both sides. For now, Chicago’s message to Washington is clear: the city’s leaders intend to fight any federal incursion they view as unconstitutional, even as the White House insists its only goal is to make the city safer.
