Trump Calls for Jailing of Windy City Mayor and Illinois Governor as Military Forces Arrive in Metropolis

Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.

"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"

The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.

Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.

"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."

The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"

As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 50 miles from the city, 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.

That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.

Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.

Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.

The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.

Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".

A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.

The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.

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 trying to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."

The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.

Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.

Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per police data.

New survey data published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.

Sara Brown
Sara Brown

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