President Donald J. Trump signaled a major adjustment to his deportation enforcement strategy during an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas that aired Wednesday evening, just days after mounting public backlash over ICE operations in Minneapolis and Operation Metro Surge triggered mass protests and two deaths.

The President revealed that moving forward, federal immigration enforcement will largely enter Democrat-run Sanctuary Cities only if the mayors of those crumbling jurisdictions explicitly "ask" for help and "invite" them in.

Tom Llamas:
I want to be clear, because it sounds like there is a shift in immigration enforcement here—that there's going to be a shift after Minneapolis. What should Americans expect going forward?

President Trump:
Well, one thing I say to my people: we do a good job, and we don't get credit for it. I say they have to ask, and they have to say "please." When a city is going to ask the mayor or the governor, I don't want to go and force ourselves into a city, even if their numbers are terrible.

Like, for instance, I got a call from Jeff Landry, governor of Louisiana. He said, "We have a big problem. Could you go in and help us with—well, let's see—certain sections." I mean, to be honest with you, certain sections of the state beyond their famous, beautiful city—certain sections of the state.

We have done not only New Orleans, we've done a really great job in Louisiana. But I was called. I want to be called. Chicago—we could solve the Chicago crime.

Tom Llamas:
On that question, which cities are you headed to next?

President Trump:
We have five cities that we're looking at very strongly, but we want to be invited. We will sometimes call the governors and say, "Are you going to invite us?"

Tom Llamas:
Are they cities like Chicago, Philadelphia? Are these the cities?

President Trump:
We could straighten out the crime in Chicago. We've already brought it down 25% just by being there. We could have Chicago be a safe city, just like D.C. is a safe city—just like all of these places that we've gone to.