President Donald Trump is floating the idea to cut crime. He claims Chicago has had the most murders of any other U.S. city for more than a decade.
On Truth Social on Tuesday night, Trump posted a message saying, "A really DEADLY weekend in Chicago. 6 DEAD, 27 HURT IN CRIME SPREES ALLOVER THE CITY. Panic stricken Governor Pritzker says that crime is under control, when in fact it is just the opposite. He is an incompetent Governor who should call me for HELP. Mayor Johnson is no better. Make Chicago Great Again!" The Chicago Police Department said three people were fatally shot over the weekend, between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Monday morning.
Earlier Tuesday, survivors of gun violence in Chicago spoke out against bringing the National Guard to the city. They believe over-policing is not the answer, and worry this will only escalate fear in communities.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker said there has been no communication from the White House.
Local leaders have continued to push back and say National Guard troops are not needed.
SEE ALSO: Illinois politicians condemn Trump's threat to deploy National Guard to Chicago
The recurring theme for Democrats when it comes to anything related to President Trump seems to be stand up and fight back. And as more voices are added to that message to the White House, Mayor Johnson said Tuesday he's not worried if that further provokes the president.
"They don't want our communities to be safer for all of us. They just want to play on people's fears and anxieties to seize more power for themselves," Johnson said. "Nowhere in the history of America or the world where marginalized people have sat silent in idle and they've been able to actually achieve justice and liberation."
One day after Pritzker led a massive coordinated display of unity against such a move, the president is still suggesting leaders should be asking for his help.
"You would think that Illinois would have such a problem with crime, such a bad governor. He should be calling me, and he should be saying, 'could you send over the troops please?'" Trump said.
The mayor is encouraging people to take to the streets if the Guard is deployed.
"The people of Chicago understand the constitutional privilege of being able to elevate your voices, to be able to protest in a peaceful way. That's what I'm calling for. That's what the city of Chicago is known for," Johnson said. "The fact that you have a unified front in Chicago, where we are rejecting the occupation by the military of our cities, that's actually fighting for our democracy. That's what's required in this moment."
An ABC7 Chicago Data Team analysis of Chicago Police Department statistics shows overall violent crime and homicides at their lowest level since 2014.
Tamika Howard, who lost two siblings to gun violence, was among those speaking Tuesday morning.
"Sending the troops into our communities will not provide healing for our pain," Howard said. "It will escalate fear. It will retraumatize families and definitely push our young people further away the goals and accomplishments that we have yet to reach."
Instead of troops, she wants to see more federal funding to help prevent gun violence.
"We don't need troops on our ground. It's not a war zone. I'm looking around right now. I don't see a war zone. I go in my neighborhood. I go to the same places where I got shot. It's not a war zone," shooting victim Samuel Morgan said.
Meanwhile, Trump has signed an executive order that aims to create specialized units in the National Guard trained at quelling civil disturbances and ensuring public safety.
The order also establishes a quick reaction force available for rapid nationwide deployment.
Some local Republicans said the National Guard can make a difference.
"If we even save one life, I think it is worth the challenge because Chicago has been crime-ridden for so long, and people have had enough," Cook County Republican Chair Aaron Del Mar said.
The chairman of the Chicago Republican Party said the Guard could help with patrolling CTA platforms and having a visible presence in high-traffic locations, like the lakefront or Magnificent Mile, similar to what's happening in Washington, D.C.
That, he says, would free up police to work high-crime neighborhoods, where, he says, people would welcome the help.
"They're tired of lip service and seeing murders week, week after week after week, murders of 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds. They want something to be done, and the president is putting out an offer, and we need to take them up on it," Chuck Hernandez said.
As labor groups plan for their Labor Day demonstrations, they have new motivation to stand together.
"The kind of 'help' that he wants to bring to the city isn't a help. It's just a trap that we are not gonna walk into," Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said. "The president wanted to pick a fight. We'll give him one Chicago-style, but we're also not going to take the bait."
Labor groups are prepared for demonstrations if the president sends the Guard.
Constitutional experts said the president can only nationalize the guard in the event of a rebellion, foreign invasion or when federal laws can't be enforced.
"So, we've had guardsmen in the street before, but they were ordered in by the governor. And traditionally, and the statute says the governor has to give the order. And that makes sense because guardsmen usually respond to floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fire," Chicago Kent College of Law professor Douglas William Godfrey said.
Local officials have threatened to take legal action, but that would likely come after deployment.