The mayor of Chicago believes his city does not need President Donald Trumpās help in curbing crime.
Instead, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking for other ways to handle the issue.
In what some have called political outreach, Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C. On Friday, he said Chicago and New York was next on his list.
āThe guard is not needed,ā Johnsontold NBC News. āThis 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.ā
The Windy Cityās mayor said there has been a decrease in murders, shootings and car thefts.
Earlier this month, the Chicago police crime data revealed murders are down 31% from the same time last year. Shootings have gone down by 36% and vehicle thefts are down 26%.
āThe things that weāre 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 ⦠thatās why weāre seeing the results that we are experiencing right now,ā Johnson said.
āOccupying our cities with the military ā thatās not how we build safe and affordable communities,ā he added.
Johnson questioned why Trump cut federal investments in violence prevention and reduced the budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid if his goal was to lower violence big cities.
āThe National Guard is not going to put food on peopleās table. The National Guard is not going to reduce unemployment,ā Johnson said.
Johnsonās office revealed Saturday that it was working with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Cook County in āevaluating all of our legal options to protect the people of Chicago from unconstitutional federal overreach.ā
On Saturday, Pritzker posted on social media and said Trump was āattempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain heās causing families.ā
Trump said Friday there were no plans involving Chicago. He also has not spoken to Johnson about any troop deployment.
Trump said people in the city āare screaming for us to come.ā
āWhen weāre ready, and weāll go in and weāll straighten out Chicago, just like we did D.C. Chicago is very dangerous,ā he said.
