STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We mentioned that Chicago's mayor, Brandon Johnson, called this move by the president illegal - if he should do it. And now we have Mayor Johnson on the line. Welcome to the program, sir.
BRANDON JOHNSON: Hey. Thanks for having me. Good morning.
INSKEEP: Thanks for joining us. It's very early in Chicago, I know. What, if anything, have you heard directly from the White House about their intentions?
JOHNSON: So we have heard no intentions from the White House. No communications have been transferred to my office nor has any communications been made with our governor, either. So we're discovering and learning of this through the press, just like everyone else.
INSKEEP: And I guess we should mention we do not know of an actual move yet. We're just following and looking at the signs and listening to the president's words. Now, you mentioned that this would be an illegal move, and in many circumstances, it certainly would. But there are laws - Title 32, Title 10 - which allow the president to work with the Guard in a state or even federalize the National Guard for a federal purpose. Do you accept that there may be some circumstance in which the president could send in the National Guard?
JOHNSON: No. You know, listen. You know, my police department works with the federal government on a variety of issues - one, getting guns off the streets, right? We work with the federal government when we're dealing with human trafficking. There are a number of coordinated efforts that make sense. You know, just a couple of weeks ago, we removed over 150 guns off the streets of Chicago that were being trafficked from states like Mississippi and Indiana. In this instance, if the president was absolutely certain that, you know, driving violence down in the city of Chicago and cities across America was his actual goal, he would not have taken over $800 million away from violence prevention efforts.
We are driving violence down in Chicago. Homicides are down almost 32%. Shootings and shooting victims are down nearly 40%. The month of April, we had the fewest amount of homicides since 1962. Robberies are down 35%. Carjackings are down. We're moving in the right direction because we're making critical investments that actually work.
INSKEEP: And I just want to note that, broadly speaking, your statistics are correct. Crime is higher in Chicago than a lot of places but lower than it was a few years ago.
JOHNSON: Well, we're not even the most violent city in America. So, you know, I'm not quite sure what you're reading up on. I'm saying that when it comes to the most violent cities in America, we don't even crack the top 20. That's a narrative that continues to get pushed, and it's just not accurate.
INSKEEP: OK.
JOHNSON: The fact of the matter is, violence is my number - community safety is my number one issue. I work hard every single day to drive violence down. The city of Chicago is not calling for American troops to occupy American cities. It's not democratic. It's unconstitutional. It's illegal and costly.
INSKEEP: Now, when you talked about cooperating with the federal government, it sounds to me that if the government surged other kinds of federal forces in Chicago, as they have done in a way in Washington, D.C. - extra FBI agents, turning them into beat cops, homeland security people, various other federal agencies - would you have a different reaction to that?
JOHNSON: Well, they don't have policing powers or arresting powers. Here's what I can tell you. The National Guard and federal troops will not drive unemployment down. It will not put food on the table. While he is taking money away from violence prevention, he's taking away SNAP food. He's taking away Medicaid. He's defunding our public education system.
The way we build safe communities is that we actually invest in them and make them affordable. That's what I'm doing here in Chicago. We are on pace to build over 10,000 affordable homes. We're hiring young people. We've revamped our detectives bureau so that we can actually solve crime. Clearly, our work is working. This president has no intentions on working with cities across America. 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.
INSKEEP: Mayor Johnson, you...
JOHNSON: And we're not going to stand for it in Chicago.
INSKEEP: Understood. You've laid out your progressive vision for Chicago and some of the efforts that you've made. I want people to know - and you know very well - you've been much criticized as mayor. You've lost a lot of public support over taxes and immigration and other issues, very low approval ratings. I'm just curious. You've been mayor for getting on a couple of years now. Do you feel that you're learning on the job, and if so, what are you learning from the difficulty of it?
JOHNSON: Well, here's what we have been very clear about. I'm going to build the safest, most affordable big city in America. And you do that by being a pro-worker, pro-growth mayor. And that's exactly what we've done. Our population continues to grow. Our airports are breaking records. Our hotel occupancy is up. We are still the No. 1 locator (ph) for corporate headquarters anywhere in the country. We've been voted the best big city in America. We're building safe and affordable communities. And what this president is attempting to do is to continue to drive wedges between communities. If he was serious about immigration, if he was serious about violence, he would actually use his authority and his power to get Congress to act. Right now, if we were to extend ESSER, the education funding, we would have surpluses across America when it comes to our education system. So, no, I do not apologize for building safe and affordable big - a affordable big city. And you do that by investing in people, and that's exactly what I've done.
INSKEEP: Brandon Johnson is the mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Mayor Johnson, thanks for joining us this morning. Really appreciate it.
JOHNSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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