ISTANBUL 

US President Donald Trump on Saturday once again warned that he would deploy the “Department of WAR” in the city of Chicago.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” Trump wrote on US social media company Truth Social, which he owns, altering a famous line from Apocalypse Now, a 1979 film about a renegade officer in the Vietnam War.

The post included an image, apparently AI-generated, showing Trump dressed as a character from Apocalypse Now with the caption “Chipocalypse Now.”

"Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR," Trump added, using his rebranded name for what is still officially the Defense Department.

Last month Trump said his administration would target Chicago and New York in what he billed as a federal crackdown on crime, after he declared a "crime emergency" in Washington, DC, placing the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and deploying nearly 2,000 National Guard troops to patrol streets.

Trump said he still wants to send troops to Chicago, despite heavy pushback from Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

Critics say his initiative has nothing to do with crime, as the cities in question have shown downward rates of crime. They point out that Washington, New York, and Chicago have all been run by black mayors who ran as Democrats.

In court challenges, officials have alleged Trump’s deployments violate the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using the US military to execute domestic laws.

Trump’s latest online message comes as immigration enforcement has recently intensified in Chicago, with 300 federal agents using the nearby Great Lakes Naval Station as a base for expanded operations.