- Trump threatens to jail Chicago mayor and Illinois governor.
- National Guard troops assemble outside Chicago despite opposition.
- The former FBI chief is due in court to face criminal charges.
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’ governor, both Democrats, as his administration prepares to deploy military troops on the streets of America’s third-largest city.
Neither Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been charged with criminal wrongdoing, although both have emerged as prominent opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown and deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic-leaning cities.
Trump’s call to jail the two lawmakers comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, was scheduled to appear in court to face criminal charges that have been widely criticized as flimsy.
Trump has frequently called for the imprisonment of his opponents since entering politics in 2015, but Comey is the first to face prosecution.
On his social media platform, Trump accused Johnson and Pritzker of failing to protect immigration agents operating in Chicago.
“The Mayor of Chicago should be in jail for failing to protect the ICE agents! So should Governor Pritzker!” ” Trump wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.
Johnson signed an executive order Monday creating an “ICE Free Zone” that prohibits federal immigration agents from using city property in their operations.
“This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to have a black person unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere,” he said on social media.
Pritzker, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, also said he would not back down. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of the elected officials who control his power. What else is left on the path to full-fledged authoritarianism?”
Trump has vowed to harness the power of the federal government to target his enemies. Besides Comey, his Justice Department is investigating several other high-profile critics. All have denied any wrongdoing and Comey is expected to plead not guilty to charges of lying to Congress.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that ICE violated a 2022 agreement that limits the agency’s ability in several Midwestern states to arrest immigrants without a warrant, in an opinion that could limit some of the aggressive tactics ICE has adopted since Trump returned to office.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said the agency wrongly declared the agreement void and extended it until February.
Troops in Chicago
Hundreds of Texas National Guard troops gathered at a military installation outside Chicago, over the objections of Pritzker, Johnson and other Democratic leaders in the state. Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more U.S. cities, which he said could serve as “training grounds” for the armed forces.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that most Americans are opposed to deploying troops without an external threat.
Trump ordered Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. In each case, he has defied fierce opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality. He also announced that he would send troops to Memphis.
“My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!” he wrote on his social media platform.
Violent crime has declined in many U.S. cities since the peak of the Covid era, and National Guard troops have until now been used largely to protect federal installations, not to combat street crime.
Protests against Trump’s immigration policies in Chicago and Portland have been largely peaceful and limited in size, according to local officials, a far cry from the conditions described by Trump administration officials.
At an immigration center in Broadview, Illinois, outside Chicago, four protesters held signs and chanted slogans Wednesday in front of a wall of heavily armed officers. The administration said National Guard troops could be sent to guard the facility, but none had arrived by early afternoon.
Pritzker accused Trump of trying to foment violence to justify further militarization, and his state sued to stop the deployment. A federal judge on Monday allowed the deployment to proceed for now. Another federal judge blocked the deployment in Portland.
Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurgency law to circumvent any court order blocking him, which was last invoked during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
