Trump threatens 'Apocalypse Now'-style action against Chicago to boost deportations

Updated September 6, 2025 at 12:17 PM CDT

President Trump threatened the city of Chicago on Saturday with the deportation of suspected undocumented immigrants, as Illinois' most populous city — along with Baltimore and New Orleans — prepared for the potential arrival of National Guard troops.

" 'I love the smell of deportations in the morning...' " Trump wrote on the conservative social media platform Truth Social, alongside a doctored photo of himself depicted as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now.

"Chicago [is] about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR," the post continued.

Trump on Friday signed an executive order to rebrand the Defense Department as the Department of War, having stated that the new title "just sounded to me better."

Trump had mentioned the three cities — Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans — this week as possible places for troop deployment in order to curb crime, though data shows that crime has gone down in those cities. It comes after the use of the National Guard in Los Angeles in June and Washington, D.C. in August.

In Chicago, home to one of the largest Mexican communities in the U.S., organizers of a Mexican Independence celebration this weekend told NPR they planned to bolster their event with a large team of volunteers and distribute "know your rights" cards.

" We won't let anyone rain on our parade," said Vicky Lugo, the lead organizer for the event in the city's lower west side.

Chicago 

Major events will continue this weekend as scheduled in Chicago, including Taste of Chicago, Printers Row Lit Festival and Sundays on State, but organizers say they'll be monitoring the situation closely, member station WBEZ reported.

At least one celebration for Mexican Independence Day, which is on Sept. 16, has been postponed to November because of worries about immigration raids and National Guard deployment, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

Lugo said her group chose to move forward with their Mexican Independence Day parade this Saturday because of the groundswell of support and influx of volunteers they received.

" Honestly, it's the support of the community that we have gotten that has kept us going," she said.

When asked about the upcoming Mexican Independence Day events, Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday encouraged residents to come together and celebrate.

"I'm not intimidated and no one should be," he said.

Citing Trump's social media post on Saturday morning that referenced the famous Apocalypse Now quote, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said the president's behavior was extreme.

"The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city," Pritzker wrote on X. "This is not a joke. This is not normal."

Earlier this week, Pritzker said he expects Trump to deploy "unidentified agents in unmarked vehicles" to Latino neighborhoods in Chicago, along with federal agents at federal properties throughout the city.

"We are ready to fight troop deployments in court and we will do everything possible to ensure that agents operating inside the confines of this state do so in a legal and ethical manner," he said.

Baltimore

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott have been discussing what kinds of legal action they can take against the Trump administration if troops are deployed in the city, member station WYPR reported.

At a press conference on Friday night, Moore said he welcomes federal support but "we want federal supports that actually work." He went on to criticize the Trump administration for slashing funds for violence prevention programs.

On Friday, Moore and Scott also announced that the city of Baltimore will receive additional state law enforcement resources to tackle crime, including from the Maryland State Police and Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

New Orleans

Unlike the Democratic governors in Illinois and Maryland, the Republican governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, has supported the prospect of troops coming to the city of New Orleans.

Earlier this week, Landry wrote on X "We will take President @realDonaldTrump's help from New Orleans to Shreveport!"

Landry was also among the handful of Republican governors to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to support Trump's crime crackdown.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office and the New Orleans Police Department did not comment on whether they support or oppose the use of troops, but emphasized that their current approach has shown progress in reducing crime.

"The City of New Orleans and NOPD remain committed to sustaining this momentum, ensuring that every neighborhood continues to feel the impact of these combined efforts," the statement read.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Shreveport, Tom Arceneaux, said he respected the governor's concern for public safety but cautioned that the most effective approach is through discussions among local, state and federal officials to identify long-term solutions.

"Any city our size can always use additional resources in the battle against crime. The question is how, when, and in what form to provide those resources," he said in a statement on Thursday.

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