Trump Calls for Jailing of Chicago Leader and Illinois Governor as National Guard Arrive in Metropolis
Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic federal law restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data released on that day found that most Americans oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.