President Donald Trump on Monday continued to take goal at Chicago as town braces for potential federal intervention.
“We would love to enter Chicago and straighten it out,” Trump stated as he delivered remarks on the Museum of the Bible.
Earlier Monday, Trump wrote on his social media platform that the folks of Illinois ought to “band collectively and DEMAND PROTECTION” from what he has stated is against the law downside in Chicago, regardless of police knowledge displaying murders and shootings down this 12 months in comparison with final.
“I wish to assist the folks of Chicago, not harm them. Solely the Criminals will likely be harm! We will transfer quick and cease this insanity,” Trump wrote within the publish.
President Donald Trump speaks at a listening to of the Spiritual Liberty Fee on the Museum of the Bible, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
The feedback come after a confrontation over the weekend between Trump and Illinois leaders following a controversial publish from the president referencing the newly rebranded Division of Conflict.
“Chicago is about to search out out why it is referred to as the Division of WAR,” Trump wrote in a publish on Saturday that included a manipulated picture and a caption studying, “I really like the scent of deportations within the morning,” a nod to the often-quoted line “I really like the scent of napalm within the morning” from the conflict movie “Apocalypse Now.”
Trump later downplayed the risk, telling reporters on Sunday: “We’re not going to conflict. We’ll clear up our cities.”
Democratic leaders in Illinois slammed Trump’s rhetoric, and protests unfolded all through Chicago on Saturday in opposition to the president’s risk to extend immigration enforcement and dispatch Nationwide Guard troops.
“‘I wish to assist folks, not harm them,’ says the man who simply threatened an American metropolis with the Division of Conflict,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X on Monday.
Whereas Trump on Monday stated that he needed to “repair” Chicago, he additionally signaled his administration might not ship in troops with out a request from state and native officers, saying his administration is “ready for a name from Chicago.”
“I do not know why Chicago is not calling us, saying, please give us assist when you’ve over only a quick time frame, 50 murders and lots of of individuals shot. After which you’ve a governor that stands up and says how crime is simply advantageous. It is, it is actually loopy, however we’re bringing again regulation and order to our nation,” Trump stated.
Pritzker has made clear he is not going to be making such a request, telling reporters final week: “When did we develop into a rustic the place it is okay for the U.S. president to insist on nationwide tv {that a} state ought to name him to beg for something, particularly one thing we do not need?”
In the meantime, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday launched an expanded operation dubbed “Halfway Blitz,” that may “goal the legal unlawful aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois as a result of they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary insurance policies would defend them and permit them to roam free on American streets,” the Division of Homeland Safety stated in a publish on X.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks throughout a press convention, Sept. 2, 2025, in Chicago.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Trump, touting his administration’s federal takeover of Washington, urged on Monday the identical be carried out in different American cities.
“We may do the identical factor in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles,” Trump stated in his remarks on the Museum of the Bible.
“We saved Los Angeles, we saved Los Angeles,” he stated.
The Trump administration deployed 1000’s of Nationwide Guard troops to Los Angeles in June, over the protests of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. A federal choose not too long ago dominated using federal troops within the California metropolis was unlawful.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch earlier Monday stated she is “revolted” by the presence of the Nationwide Guard on huge metropolis streets.
“As a lifelong New Yorker, I’m revolted by the thought of the militarization of our streets,” Tisch stated throughout a breakfast on the Residents Finances Fee. “I will likely be very clear with anyone, all of you, the lawyer normal, anybody who needs to speak to me about this that the NYPD, we have got this. We do not want or need the federal authorities’s assist right here in that means.”
ABC Information’ Aaron Katersky and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
