Following his deployment of federal forces against violent crime in the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump is eyeing Chicago as his next target for a crackdown on crime, despite the protests of Windy City Democrats. At a press conference Tuesday, Trump announced that federal forces would be “going in” to Chicago to address the city’s high crime rates. “We’re going in. I didn’t say when,” the president said. He continued, “We’re going in. Look, I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing, I have an obligation.”

“Let me tell you a little story about a place called D.C. District of Columbia. Right here where we are. It’s now a safe zone,” Trump added, referring to his federalization of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployment of National Guard soldiers. The president continued, “We have no crime. It’s in such great shape, you can go and actually walk with your children, your wife, your husband, you can walk right down the middle of the street and you’re not gonna be shot. … You’re safe.”

Over Labor Day weekend, at least 58 people were reportedly shot in Chicago, including at least eight who died of their gunshot wounds. One Chicago shooting left five people, including a 17-year-old boy, injured early Monday morning. A 17-year-old girl was wounded by a stray bullet in another Labor Day shooting. Last year, 42 were shot in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, marking a nearly 40% increase in shootings.

Despite the rise in crime, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) had vocally opposed the president’s suggestion of using the National Guard to curb violent crime in the city. On Saturday, for example, Johnson signed an executive order barring city law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal law enforcement officials, requiring federal law enforcement officers — such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents — not to wear masks while operating in Chicago, and “demand[ing] that President Donald Trump stand down from his threat to deploy National Guard personnel to Chicago.”

“We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government,” Johnson claimed in a press conference. The mayor added, “This executive order makes it emphatically clear that this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department. … I don’t take orders from the federal government.”

Johnson has previously suggested orchestrating protests and riots, citing the example of anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles earlier this year, as a possible response to federal action. At a rally on Monday, Johnson encouraged Chicago residents to “defend” the city from the president. “Are you prepared to defend this land?” the mayor asked Chicagoans. He continued, “The people united will always prevail. I need you all to stand firm, to stand strong, if this president decides to continue to break this Constitution.”

In fact, protests were organized on Monday in opposition to Trump’s crime crackdown and reports of upcoming ICE raids in the city. Thousands of Chicago residents reportedly attended the protests, organized in part by teachers’ unions. As was the case during the L.A. riots, Mexican flags were waved by protestors, while Johnson led a “No troops in Chicago” chant.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) also criticized the president’s plan to address crime in the Windy City, insisting that Chicagoans don’t “want” federal forces in the city and that he would not call Trump to request federal assistance with Chicago’s crime. At a joint press conference with Johnson on Tuesday, Pritzker asked, “When did we become a country where it’s okay for the U.S. president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything? Especially something we don’t want.” Referring to the planned immigration raids, Pritzker suggested that Trump is intentionally targeting September’s Mexican Independence Day celebrations. “Let’s be clear: the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here,” the governor said.

Appearing on “Washington Watch” Tuesday night, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) touted the president’s crime crackdown in D.C., noting that Trump “campaigned and promised that he was going to make America more prosperous and safer. And he has done just that.” Referring to his own experience as the mayor of Pooler, in his native Georgia, Carter encouraged those like Johnson to accept the president’s help. “I understood just how important it was to keep our citizens safe. It should be that way for every mayor. It just baffles me,” the congressman said. He continued, “And it just disappoints me so much to hear Chicago, particularly those who are supposed to be setting an example, saying they don’t want help in fighting crime. I mean, why wouldn’t you want your citizens to be safe? I don’t get that at all.”

“The Democrats want to make this out to be that he’s picking on them,” Carter observed of the friction between Democratic mayors and governors and the president. He continued, “Well, why are you picking these cities? Because that’s where the problem is. It’s in Chicago, it’s in Baltimore. It’s because of ineffective and weak leadership — Democratic leadership — that we’re seeing these crime-ridden cities.” Carter pointed to Trump’s success in D.C. and said, “I feel safer now in Washington, D.C., and people in Chicago, people in Baltimore, they deserve to have safe streets, they deserve to be able to go out to dinner with their family without worrying about crime.”