Trump Demands Imprisonment of Chicago Leader and Illinois Governor as Military Forces Arrive in City
Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic federal law limits the military's role 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 put down an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending troops to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of troops without an foreign danger.