Mayor blasts Trump's threat to deploy National Guard to Chicago

Chicago's mayor is defying President Donald Trump's threat to deploy the National Guard to the Windy City to combat crime and scoping out legal avenues to prevent soldiers from overtaking the city.

CHICAGO — Chicago's mayor is defying President Donald Trump's threat to deploy the National Guard to the Windy City to combat crime and scoping out legal avenues to prevent soldiers from overtaking the city.

On Friday, Trump talked about his controversial deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and said Chicago and New York City would be next. He has described the deployment in the nation's capital as a bid to clean up crime, but critics dismiss the move as little more than political overreach.

“The guard is not needed,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told NBC News. “This is not the role of our military. The brave men and women who signed up to serve our country did not sign up to occupy American cities.”

Johnson also noted the city's decline in murders, shootings and car thefts. Chicago police crime data from earlier this month show murders are down 31% from the same time last year, shootings have dropped by 36% and vehicle thefts are down 26%.

“The things that we’re doing in Chicago by investing in people, youth employment, mental health care, services, building more affordable homes, making sure that our detectives bureau has all the resources that it needs ... that’s why we’re seeing the results that we are experiencing right now,” he said.