Trump Demands Jailing of Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor as National Guard Deploy in City
Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.