Trump Demands Imprisonment of Windy City Leader and Illinois Governor as Military Forces Arrive in City
Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, 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 preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize 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, Trump has said he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.