🔗 Share this article

Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago 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 ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"

The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.

Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.

"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."

The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"

As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.

Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.

That day, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.

Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.

Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.

The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.

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

Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.

The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.

Pritzker has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".

During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."

The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.

Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.

Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.

New survey data published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.