U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order shortly after signing it Monday morning that aims to end cashless bail across the United States by withholding federal funding. | Screengrab

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that aims to end cashless bail in Illinois and other states, which he called a “failed experiment.”

Trump signed an executive order on Monday morning to take steps to end cashless bail “to protect Americans” across the country.

“Somebody kills somebody. They go in, ‘don’t worry about it, no cash, come back in a couple of months we’ll give you a trial,’ you never see the person again. They kill people and they get out,” Trump said during the signing.

Trump referenced Illinois as one of the states that will be targeted. “They have a great cashless bail. You don’t even have to go to court sometimes,” he said.

“Maintaining order and public safety requires incarcerating individuals whose pending criminal charges or criminal history demonstrate a clear ongoing risk to society. When these individuals are released without bail under city or State policies, they are permitted — even encouraged — to further endanger law-abiding, hard-working Americans because they know our laws will not be enforced,” the executive order said.

“Our great law enforcement officers risk their lives to arrest potentially violent criminals, only to be forced to arrest the same individuals, sometimes for the same crimes, while they await trial on the previous charges. This is a waste of public resources and a threat to public safety,” the order added.

Trump said in the executive order that he will require “commonsense policies” that protect Americans’ safety by incarcerating people who are known threats.

The measure he signed calls for federal policies and resources not to be used to support jurisdictions with cashless bail policies.

The U.S. Attorney General was directed to submit to the president a list of states and local jurisdictions that have substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition of pre-trial release from custody for violent crimes.

The federal government will then identify federal funds, including grants and contracts, that are currently being provided to places with cashless bail and terminate them.

The White House said Trump’s aggressive crackdown to end the “failed experience known as ‘cashless bail’” aims to get violent criminals off the streets.

“The Radical Left’s fantasy of so-called ‘cashless bail’ has turned the streets of America’s cities into hunting grounds for repeat criminals who mock our justice system by committing crime after crime without consequence,” the White House said.

The Trump administration cited numerous cases where offenders were released from custody under cashless bail across the nation, including a case in Rockford, Illinois, where a murder suspect walked free in 2024.

Prior to the signing of the executive order, Trump appeared to shift his stance on his next moves for a crime crackdown in other states following his law enforcement takeover of Washington, D.C.

“You really want to be asked to go. I hate to barge into a city and be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians, like a guy like Pritzker, he ought to spend more time in the gym, actually. Guy is a disaster,” Trump said, adding that Chicago is a “killing field.”

The president previously said last week that federal intervention would likely come to Chicago next after Washington D.C. for a similar crime crackdown.

Trump’s comments were met with sharp reaction from leaders in Illinois, including Governor J.B. Pritzker, who said that he is not afraid but is also not daring the Trump administration to come to the state.

“I’m just saying, they don’t have a right. Federal and state law — separate endeavors. They don’t have a right to do the things they’re threatening to do,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said Trump was attempting to create “chaos” to distract from his problems.

“Trump and Republicans are trying to distract from the pain they are causing working families–from tariffs raising the prices of everyday goods to stripping away healthcare and food from millions of Americans,” the governor said.

Pritzker said Trump used Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. as his testing ground for “authoritarian overreach” and is now “openly flirting” with the idea of taking over other states and cities.

“Trump’s goal is to incite fear in our communities and destabilize existing public safety efforts — all to create a justification to further abuse his power. He is playing a game and creating a spectacle for the press to play along with,” Pritzker said.

“We don’t play those games in Illinois. Our commitment to law and order is delivering real results. Crime rates are improving. Homicides are down by more than 30% in Chicago in the last year alone,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, along with community leaders, are set to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon to “emphasize that there is no emergency” that requires Trump to send military deployments to Chicago.