Trump Calls for Imprisonment of Windy City Leader and Illinois Governor as Military Forces Arrive in Metropolis
Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration 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 social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 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 "dangerous disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces 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 military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending military units to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day found that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
