Trump Demands Jailing of Chicago Leader and Illinois Governor as National Guard Deploy in City
Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.