CHICAGO – Activists and immigrant rights groups will rally in downtown Chicago Saturday in opposition to President Donald Trump’s threats to send federal troops into the city.
Trump protest march
What we know:
The Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA), joined by organizations including the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Chicago Teachers Union and GoodKids MadCity, is set to gather at 5 p.m. at Congress Plaza Garden, near Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue.
Organizers said the demonstration will denounce what they describe as a racist pretext by Trump to escalate deportations and target immigrant communities under the guise of crime reduction.
FOX 32 will be live-streaming the march in the media player at the top of this story.
The backstory:
The protest follows a Saturday morning post from Trump on Truth Social, in which he shared an AI-generated image of himself dressed in military gear styled after the film “Apocalypse Now” alongside the words “Chipocalypse Now.”
In the post, Trump wrote, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning… Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” a reference to his recent decision to rename the Department of Defense.
What they’re saying:
Illinois leaders blasted the post, with Sen. Dick Durbin calling it “disgusting” and Gov. JB Pritzker saying the president was “threatening to go to war with an American city.” Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has repeatedly opposed federal troop deployments, said Trump’s rhetoric was “beneath the honor of our nation” and amounted to an attempt to “occupy our city and break our Constitution.”
Organizers said Saturday’s demonstration builds on growing resistance to Trump’s agenda, pointing to last week’s Workers Over Billionaires rally, where thousands cheered Johnson’s declaration of “No federal troops in the city of Chicago.”
“Under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s leadership, violent crime in Chicago has reached its lowest point since 2019,” said Frank Chapman of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “The people of Chicago know Trump is a racist and a liar, and have shown militant opposition to his policies.”
The protest comes as fears of immigration enforcement operations have already led to cancellations or postponements of Mexican Independence Day festivities across the Chicago area.
