Trump Calls for Jailing of Chicago Leader and State Executive as National Guard Arrive in City
Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, according to sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on that day found that most Americans oppose the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
