Chicago’s far-left Mayor Brandon Johnson said locking up criminals is “racist, immoral and unholy” as he and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker blasted President Trump’s threat to send in the National Guard.

“We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence; we’ve already tried that, and we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence,” Johnson said during a fiery press conference in the heart of the Windy City Monday.

“The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we’ve moved past that. It is racist, it is immoral, it is unholy, and it is not the way to drive violence down.”

Pritzker accused Trump of being a “wannabe dictator” as he railed against the president’s plans to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago — where violence has remained stubbornly above pre-pandemic levels despite bluster from its leaders.

“This is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against,” Pritzker said.

“What Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American,” he said, adding no Chicagoan wants their “neighborhood turned into a warzone by a wannabe dictator.”

The governor’s comments come two days after the Washington Post revealed the White House was developing plans to possibly deploy several thousand National Guard troops in the city as early as September to stamp out crime.

Those plans have been developing for months, according to reports, and would resemble Trump’s deployment of armed National Guard troops and active-duty soldiers to Los Angeles in June and Washington, DC, this month.

The White House has not confirmed the reports, but when asked by reporters in the Oval Office earlier Monday whether he was considering sending troops to Chicago, Trump said, “I am.”

Pritzker claimed Trump’s plans had nothing to do with making the city safer.

“This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state. To try and intimidate his political rivals,” he said.

Crime is down in Chicago across nearly all categories, Pritzker said, citing a 30% decline in homicides so far this year compared to 2024.

But while Chicago’s crime has improved year-to-date, violence is still higher than it was before the pandemic, according to an analysis of crime data between 2019 and 2024.

Aggravated assault is up 16%, figures from the Council on Criminal Justice show, while carjackings are up a staggering 60% and gun assaults were 46% higher.

Though homicides are down since last year, Chicago is still much deadlier than other big cities, at 21.7 killings per 100,000 — well above LA’s 7.1 and New York’s 4.7.

Pritzker and Johnson acknowledged the city had work to do to improve crime — but insisted nobody from the city or state had asked the White House for assistance.

“We have made no requests for federal intervention. None. We found out what Trump was planning the same way all of you did. We read a story in the Washington Post,” Pritzker said.

Trump called Chicago a “killing field” on Friday and denied accusations of despotism that have followed his use of the National Guard in LA and DC.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator,” he said.

Despite saying that he was prepared to send troops to Chicago, Trump remained vague about his plans.

“In a certain way, you really want to be asked to go,” Trump told reporters.

“I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians, like a guy like [Illinois Gov. JB] Pritzker, he has to spend more time in the gym,” he added.

National Guard troops sent into cities without local permission are usually limited to defending federal personnel and buildings.

When the guard was sent to LA in June over anti-ICE protests, troops were stationed at federal buildings and escorted ICE agents on raids as protection.

The deployment in Washington — which is technically under the jurisdiction of the federal government — has been different, with patrols of armed National Guard troops bolstering local police.