CHICAGO — President Donald Trump was adamant with reporters on Sunday that “we’re not going to war” with Chicago, after he shared a post on Saturday with a caption that reads, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”<\/p>\n
“We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities,” Trump said. “We’re going to clear them up so they don’t kill every five people every weekend. That’s not war. That’s common sense.”<\/p>\n
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson pushed back against Trump after the president re-shared an image that places him in front of Chicago and insinuated he was going to take action against the city.<\/p>\n Pritzker slammed Trump and said that the president threatened to go to war with the city by posting the memes.<\/p>\n “This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” Pritzker wrote in an X post.<\/p>\n Johnson echoed the governor’s sentiment, saying the president’s “threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution.”<\/p>\n “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump,” the mayor wrote in an X post.<\/p>\n When asked on Sunday why he is targeting Chicago and Boston when there are cities in red states with higher crime rates, Trump said, “Why? Really? Higher than Chicago?”<\/p>\n An ABC News reporter responded, “Yes, there are, like Memphis and St. Louis.”<\/p>\n Trump then said, “Excuse me, excuse me. Do you know how many people were killed in Chicago last weekend? Eight. Do you know how many were killed in Chicago the week before? seven. Do you know how many people were wounded? 74 people were wounded. You think there’s worse than that? I don’t think so.”<\/p>\n According to data from the FBI<\/a>, Chicago and Boston have lower crime rates than cities in red states, including Memphis and Tennessee. The data shows that Chicago has 17.5 murders per 100,000 people and Boston has 3.6, while Memphis and St. Louis have crime rates of 40.6 and 54.1, respectively, per 100,000 people.<\/p>\n A White House spokeswoman criticized the Illinois leaders in a statement, citing Chicago’s murders during the Labor Day weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Local Democrat leaders are more upset about a post from the President – that tells you everything you need to know about the Democrats’ twisted priorities,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, said in a statement to ABC News.<\/p>\n The back and forth between Trump and Chicago Democrats has increased over the last week as the president has vowed to step up federal enforcement of crimes and immigration enforcement, including by deploying the National Guard.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO | <\/strong>Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates<\/a><\/p>\n Pritzker warned that there has been a surge in ICE agents in the city and that there could be as many as 300 ICE agents this weekend, according to local officials.<\/p>\n In response to the possibility of added ICE enforcement, city officials from neighboring communities say they are bracing for the increase of agents in communities, according to Gregory Jackson, who serves as the Chief of Staff in North Chicago, Illinois. Agents and officials are expected to operate out of the Great Lakes Naval Station for about 30 days, he said.<\/p>\n