CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said Chicago will likely be the next target of his efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.

Trump indicated that the Midwestern city could receive similar treatment to what he’s done in Washington, D.C., where he’s deployed 2,000 troops on the streets.

“I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House, later adding, “And then we’ll help with New York.”

The comments came as the Pentagon on Friday began ordering troops in Washington to carry firearms, though there have been no overt indications they have faced threats that would require them to carry weapons.

Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation’s largest cities — run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations — as dangerous and filthy.

He singled out Chicago on Friday, calling it a “mess” and saying residents there are “screaming for us to come” despite significant decreases in crimes of violence.

Trump’s suggestion that Chicago might be the next target for a crackdown on crime didn’t sit well with Illinois officeholders.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office has not received formal communication from the Trump administration about military or federal law enforcement deployments in Chicago but said “we have grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops.”

Johnson called Trump’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound,” arguing it “has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.”

It is unclear how Trump would pursue an effort in Chicago that is similar to his approach to D.C., where home rule laws give the federal government greater authority.

However, the president’s eldest son said it might be time to look at a whole host of cities in the Pacific Northwest. In an interview Thursday with Newsmax, Donald Trump Jr. blamed Democrats for “through-the-roof” murder rates.

“Maybe we should roll out the tour to Portland, Seattle, the other craphole cities of the country,” Trump Jr. said.

In a post on X entitled “Things People are Begging For,” Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, included cheaper groceries, no cuts to Medicaid or food aid for low-income families, and the release of federally held files on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker and former Trump friend.

What they are not begging for, Pritzker continued, is “an authoritarian power grab of major cities.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, called Trump’s Washington, D.C. strategy “political theater.” He said Chicago is “a beautiful, vibrant city with people from all walks of life” and suggested pursuing “proven bipartisan solutions” toward further crime reduction.