Trump Calls for Imprisonment of Chicago Leader and State Executive as National Guard Arrive in City
Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel 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".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law 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 dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
