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Trump news at a glance: Backlash in Chicago as mayor defies president’s immigration crackdown

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson listens in Chicago, Illinois, August 2025.
Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has accused Donald Trump of ‘behaving outside the bounds of the constitution’ with his immigration crackdown. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Resistance is growing to Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, signing an executive order to counter the president’s move.

The order prevents the Chicago police department from collaborating with federal authorities on patrols, immigration enforcement, or conducting traffic stops and checkpoints. It also restricts officers from wearing face coverings to hide their identities.

Johnson has accused the president of “behaving outside the bounds of the constitution” and of being “reckless and out of control”, while the White House insists the potential flood of federal agents is about “cracking down on crime”.

“If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the president, their communities would be much safer,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

Here are the key stories.

Chicago mayor signs executive order directing city to resist Trump’s immigration raids

The mayor of Chicago has signed an executive order outlining how the city will attempt to resist Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Brandon Johnson pushed back on Saturday against what he called the “out-of-control” Trump administration’s plan to deploy large numbers of federal officers into the country’s third-largest city, which could take place within days.

The Chicago police department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to the executive order Johnson signed.

Read the full story

More than 500 workers at Voice of America and other broadcasters to be laid off

The agency that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded international broadcasters is eliminating jobs for more than 500 employees, a Trump administration official said. The move could ratchet up a months-long legal challenge over the news outlets’ fate.

Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media, announced the latest round of job cuts late on Friday, one day after a federal judge blocked her from removing Michael Abramowitz as VOA director.

Read the full story

Bernie Sanders demands RFK Jr step down as health secretary

Bernie Sanders has joined in on growing public calls for Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to resign after recent chaos across US health agencies.

In an op-ed published in the New York Times on Saturday, the Vermont senator accused Kennedy of “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future”, adding: “He must resign.”

Read the full story

Senior Pentagon official had affair with ‘notorious’ astrologer who stalked him, lawsuit says

A senior Pentagon official in the Trump administration had a months-long extramarital affair with a woman claiming to be “the internet’s most notorious astrologer” – and claims in a defamation lawsuit filed in Florida that she cyberstalked him and his wife after they split up.

Read the full story

What else happened today:

  • Still getting up to speed on the latest with Trump’s tariffs? This handy explainer has everything you need to know.

  • The Guardian’s Washington correspondent David Smith examines diversity in the Trump administration in this feature entitled: ‘Racist as hell’: Trump’s cabinet is almost all white, and he keeps firing Black officials

  • Want to know more about Cracker Barrel? This analysis: What the Cracker Barrel backlash shows about Maga’s influence on US culture, explores the latest controversy.

  • Vineyards assess damage as wildfire rips through California wine country.

Catching up? Here’s what happened on 29 August 2025.

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