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Chicago political leaders are slamming a suggestion made by President Donald Trump late last week that he may soon send National Guard troops to the streets of the Midwest metropolis in order to combat crime.

Earlier in August, Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard members to Washington, D.C., as part of what he touted as an effort to reduce crime and root out homelessness. That's despite the fact that 

 that violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest level in 30 years.

 in the Oval Office, Trump said he wanted to take that approach to other U.S. cities, including New York and Chicago. 

"Chicago's a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we'll straighten that one out probably next," Trump said. 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, 

 on Friday that Trump's approach was "uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound" and that "unlawfully deploying" the National Guard to Chicago could "inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement."

, Chicago has seen a drop in certain violent crimes in the past year, including a more than 30 percent reduction in homicides, a 35 percent drop in robberies and a nearly 40 percent decline in shootings. 

Johnson doubled down on Monday in an interview 

. He said such a move — which his office has not heard about directly from the White House — would be "illegal and costly."

"The city of Chicago is not calling for American troops to occupy American cities," Johnson said. "It's not democratic. It's unconstitutional."

Chicago's crime rate has dropped as the city and the federal government have invested in targeted violence intervention programs there, 

, but the Justice Department recently cut grant funding for such work.

Johnson told NPR that if Trump were serious about making cities like Chicago safer, he "would not have taken 

"This president has no intentions on working with cities across America," Johnson said. "He's looking to test how far his power can go with the attempt to undermine our democracy, to shred our Constitution, and, of course, to create anxiety and fear and division within our communities."

 that the Pentagon has been planning a military intervention in Chicago for weeks, including the mobilization of several thousand National Guard members and the possible use of active-duty troops.

It wouldn't be the first time in recent months that federal officials have deployed the military onto American soil. In June, the 

 around 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles following several days of protests over immigration enforcement operations there, a move 

 Saturday that Trump's "threat to bring the National Guard to Chicago isn't about safety — it's a test of the limits of his power and a trial run for a police state."

He added: "Illinois has long worked with federal law enforcement to tackle crime, but we won't let a dictator impose his will."

 on Saturday that Illinois hadn't asked for any federal government intervention, and that there was no emergency in the state that warranted the deployment of the National Guard or the military.

said in a post on his social media network Truth Social

 that he might "send in the 'troops'" to Baltimore in response to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's 

 for Trump to join him on a public safety walk to "discuss strategies for effective public safety policy."

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President Donald Trump suggested he will "straighten out" Chicago next. Mayor Brandon Johnson told NPR that would be "illegal and costly" — but said there are other ways the federal government could help.

'Illegal and costly': Chicago's mayor blasts Trump's threat to deploy National Guard

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