Despite Weekend of Deadly Violence, Chicago Mayor Vows ‘No Troops’ in the Windy City

As police at Chicago investigate at least seven weekend murders and a mass shooting early Monday that left five people injured, Mayor Brandon Johnson is defiant over President Trump’s proposal to send in the National Guard to help get crime under control.“No troops in Chicago,” Mr. Johnson shouted during a defiant Labor Day protest hours after the mass shooting. “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago,” he said. “We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”Mr. Trump has suggested that Windy City would be next on his list of places to deploy the National Guard after declaring success at Washington, D.C. But Mr. Johnson, despite Chicago’s decades of pervasive crime, says the help would not be welcome.Mr. Johnson signed an executive order over the weekend that prohibits local police from working with federal law enforcement or the National Guard.Governor JB Pritzker has also come out against a federal deployment, claiming it is unconstitutional. Mr. Pritzker has threatened to take Mr. Trump to court if he sends troops to Chicago.Mr. Trump has singled out Chicago for its high murder rate. In a post on his Truth Social account on Monday, Mr. Trump said Messrs. Pritzker and Johnson “spend all of their time trying to justify violent Crime, instead of working with us to completely ELIMINATE it, which we have done in Washington, D.C., NOW A CRIME FREE ZONE.”Hundreds of people attended the Labor Day rally where Mr. Johson went on the attack against Mr. Trump. Some carried anti-Trump signs, incluing one that said, “wake up and smell the fascism,” the Chicago Tribune reports.The Council on Criminal Justice claims violent crime in Chicago has fallen significantly in recent years but the city remains one of the most crime-ridden in America. The murder rate in the city is seven per 100,000 residents, nearly double New York City’s rate. Mr. Trump has mulled sending troops to the Big Apple, as well.The Trump administration is reportedly drawing up plans to mobilize “a few thousand” National Guard troops to head to Chicago, similar to the operation the president ordered in June, when he sent 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 active Marines to Los Angeles to quell protests over the administration’s immigration policies.Mr. Trump has suggested he might send troops to cities in several states with Democratic governors. Last week, 19 Democratic governors released a statement claiming Mr. Trump “continues to politicize our military” with his use of the National Guard.“Whether it’s Illinois, Maryland and New York or another state tomorrow, the President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members,” the governors stated.

Despite Weekend of Deadly Violence, Chicago Mayor Vows ‘No Troops’ in the Windy City

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