Trump Demands Imprisonment of Windy City Mayor and Illinois Governor as National Guard Deploy in Metropolis
Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.