Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday prohibiting local police from working with their federal counterparts despite widespread gun violence across the city.
At least seven people have been killed and 37 others injured in shootings in Chicago this Labor Day weekend, Fox News reports.
This weekend’s shootings took place in a series of unrelated incidents across Chicago, with the majority of instances resulting in no one being taken into custody, police say. Trump has previously suggested he may deploy the National Guard and other federal law enforcement to combat crime in the city.
“This executive order makes it emphatically clear that this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department,” Johnson said at a news conference with other city leaders.
The mayor’s order affirms that Chicago police officers will continue to enforce state and local laws, but will not work with the National Guard or federal agents on patrols, arrests, immigration enforcement or other law enforcement actions.
“We will protect our Constitution, we will protect our city, and we will protect our people,” he said. “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart. We do not want grandmothers thrown into the back of unmarked vans. We don’t want to see homeless Chicagoans harassed or disappeared by federal agents.”
The White House dismissed Johnson’s order on Saturday, claiming that Democrats were attempting to make efforts to reduce crime a partisan issue.
“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,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
