Trump Demands Imprisonment of Windy City Mayor and State Executive as Military Forces Deploy in City
Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Chicago 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 social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying military units to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.