Trump Calls for Imprisonment of Chicago Leader and State Executive as National Guard Deploy in City
Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of 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 social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending military units to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.