Trump Demands Imprisonment of Windy City Mayor and Illinois Governor as Military Forces Arrive in Metropolis
Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
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, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that most Americans oppose the deployment of military forces without an external threat.