CHICAGO — President Donald Trump has ordered federal officials to expand deportations of immigrants in Chicago and other Democrat-led cities.

Trump’s order comes at an already tense time: Chicago saw tens of thousands of people march against the president and his anti-immigrant policies at Saturday’s No Kings rally, local leaders are bracing for more immigration raids , Mayor Brandon Johnson has called on Chicagoans to “resist” immigration enforcement and local officials question the legality of recent detainments of immigrants.

Trump praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while ordering them to “expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest cities,” which he called “the core of the Democrat Power Center.”

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“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” Trump wrote Sunday night on his social networking platform, Truth Social.

It is unclear just how many people locally have been affected by the Trump administration’s raids and detainments, as ICE has refused to provide accurate data or respond to various records requests.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Johnson’s chief of staff, said to reporters last week that city officials have been told federal agents received notice a day earlier that they had 48 hours to deploy to five Democrat-led cities, including Chicago. Pacione-Zayas said that the tactical teams would be “targeting workplaces in terms of the raids.”

Pacione-Zayas also suggested that Chicago could see a similar law enforcement and military presence as has been used in Los Angeles for much of the past week.

“We’ve seen how they’ve shown up in LA with the mini tanks, with arms, with also chemical agents, we have seen them in full riot gear, we have seen them fully concealed,” she said.

Johnson said Wednesday he’s “counting on all of Chicago to resist in this moment.”

“It’s a war on our culture. It’s a war on our democracy. It’s a war on our humanity. I am counting on all of Chicago to resist in this moment because, whatever particular vulnerable group is being targeted today, another group will be next,” the mayor said. “I know there is an effort to divide us in this moment, but none of us are immune from this disease.”

Recent federal immigration enforcement actions have sparked clashes between elected officials, activists and law enforcement while spurring protests.

The No Kings rallies held Saturday across the United States drew millions; organizers estimated there were 70,000 people at Chicago’s rally.

Before that, Chicagoans took to the streets Tuesday to protest against recent ICE raids locally and across the country.

Organizers said Tuesday’s marches were at once a rebuke of recent local ICE raids and a show of solidarity with Los Angeles, where thousands of National Guard troops and Marines were deployed and a curfew was set in place after protests erupted in the city following immigration raids — and to protest similar tactics used by federal agencies in Chicago.

At least 10 people were arrested by ICE at check-ins under a monitoring program for immigrants this month in Chicago’s South Loop.