Chicago mayor baulks at deployment plan

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, an extraordinary effort to militarise the country’s third-largest city that was likely to trigger a legal battle with local officials.

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“We're going in. I didn’t say when, but we're going in,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson swiftly condemned the action.

“He just wants his own secret police force that will do publicity stunts whenever his poll numbers are sinking, whenever his jobs report shows a stagnating economy, whenever he needs another distraction from his failures,’ he told reporters.

Hours earlier a federal judge blocked Mr Trump’s administration from using the military to fight crime in California, a ruling that does not apply to other states. But the judge said that Mr Trump’s stated desire to send troops to Chicago and other cities provided support for his ruling.

Since taking office, Mr Trump has attempted to broaden the role of the military on US soil, which critics say is a dangerous expansion of executive authority that could spark tensions between the military and ordinary citizens.