The mayor of Chicago rejected the Trump administration plan on Saturday aimed at deploying federal agents in the third largest city in the country. This deployment could occur in a few days.
According to a decree signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Chicago police will not be authorized to help the federal authorities in the control of civil immigration or in the patrols, road controls and related control points during this operation.
The mayor ordered all municipal services to protect the constitutional rights of the inhabitants of Chicago “in the face of the possibility of an imminent deployment of militarized immigration or the National Guard by the federal government”. Asked at a press conference on federal agents supposed to “obey orders”, Mr. Johnson replied that he was not receiving “federal government”.
The latter has also prohibited Chicago police officers from carrying masks to hide their identity, as most of the federal immigration agents and customs (ICE) have done since the coming to power of the Trump administration this year.
The federal intervention in Chicago could start on September 5 and last approximately 30 days, according to two US officials, who requested anonymity to discuss unremonious public plans.
Managers have described the repression of immigration as part of a larger effort aimed at strengthening the presence of federal police in major cities led by Democrats, as was the case this summer in Los Angeles.
Photo Gregory Bull, Associated Press Archives
Federal agents gathered in front of a Home Depot store during an operation carried out on Friday August 15, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Unlike the recent federal care of police services in the city of Washington, the Chicago operation should not rely on the National Guard or the Army and focus exclusively on immigration, instead of being part of a large campaign to combat crime, officials said.
Chicago is home to a large population of immigrants, and the city and the state of Illinois apply rules among the strictest in the country prohibiting any cooperation with the federal immigration control services.
This has often put the city and the state in disagreement with the massive expulsion program of President Donald Trump. In his order, Mayor Johnson said that officials of Chicago and Illinois were not consulted about the federal presence. He demanded that President Trump renounce his projects.
Johnson had hardwords against Donald Trump during his press conference, accusing the president of “behaving outside the limits of the Constitution” and of establishing a federal presence in Democratic cities as reprisals against his political rivals.
Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press
Donald Trump at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, Saturday August 30, 2025.
“He is reckless and uncontrollable,” he said. It represents the greatest threat to our democracy that we have known in the history of our country. »»
In response, the White House insisted that the potential influx of federal agents aimed to “fight crime”.
“If these Democrats focused on the fight against crime in their own cities instead of engaging in advertising to criticize the president, their communities would be much safer,” replied the spokesperson for the White House, Abigail Jackson, in an email on Saturday.
