Trump calls to jail Chicago mayor, Illinois governor in immigration dispute

Trump slams Chicago mayor and Illinois governor resisting his mass deportation campaign as troops arrive in state.

United States President Donald Trump called for the jailing of Democratic officials in Illinois resisting his mass deportation campaign, a day after armed troops from Texas arrived in the state to bolster the operation.

Chicago, the largest city in Illinois and third-largest in the country, has become the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s drive to deport millions of immigrants, which has prompted allegations of rights abuses and myriad lawsuits.

The operation is being led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose masked agents have surged into several Democratic-led cities to conduct raids, stoking outrage among many residents and protests outside federal facilities.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump posted Wednesday on his Truth Social platform.

Local officials argue that city and state law enforcement are sufficient to handle the protests, but Trump claims the military is needed to keep federal agents safe, heightening concerns among his critics of growing authoritarianism.

After National Guard deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, 200 troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday.

An immigration enforcement building outside Chicago has also been the site of clashes between federal agents and protesters.

“The federal government has not communicated with us in any way about their troop movements,” Pritzker told reporters in Chicago. “I can’t believe I have to say ‘troop movements’ in an American city, but that is what we’re talking about here.”

A judge will have a role in determining how many boots are on the streets: There’s a court hearing Thursday on a request by Illinois and Chicago to declare the National Guard deployment illegal.

‘Stand up and speak out’

Trump’s attacks on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats, follow similar extraordinary public calls by the president for his political opponents to face legal charges.

They come on the same day that former FBI director James Comey was arraigned on charges of lying to Congress – an indictment which came just days after Trump urged his attorney general to take action against him and others.

Pritzker, seen as a potential Democratic candidate in the 2028 presidential election, has become one of Trump’s most fiery critics.

He pledged Wednesday to “not back down,” listing a litany of grievances against Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“Making people feel they need to carry citizenship papers. Invading our state with military troops. Sending in war helicopters in the middle of the night,” he wrote on X.

“What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?” he asked. “We must all stand up and speak out.”

By “war helicopters”, Pritzker was referring to a major raid last week in which Black Hawk helicopters descended on a Chicago housing complex.

Dozens of people were arrested in the surprise operation, according to the Trump administration, but US media reported that American citizens were detained for hours.

Mayor Johnson has since announced “ICE-free zones” where city-owned property will be declared off-limits to federal authorities.

Johnson accused Republicans of wanting “a rematch of the Civil War”.

Trump’s immigration crackdown is aimed at fulfilling a key election pledge to rid the country of what he called waves of foreign “criminals”.

Trump has nonetheless faced some legal setbacks, including a federal judge in Oregon blocking his bid to deploy troops in Portland, saying his descriptions of an emergency there were false and that the US is a “nation of Constitutional law, not martial law”.

Trump says he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to force deployments of troops around the country if courts or local officials are “holding us up”.

National Guard poised to enter Chicago as Trump calls for jailing Democratic leaders

People protest during a standoff with ICE and federal officers in Chicago

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Some 500 National Guard troops were deployed near Chicago on Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s orders despite the objections of the Chicago mayor and Illinois governor, who decried the militarization of their city as an unnecessary provocation.

Trump in turn called for the jailing of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, neither of whom has been accused of criminal wrongdoing. Both have emerged as prominent opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown and deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic-leaning cities.

National Guard poised to enter Chicago as Trump calls for jailing Democratic leaders

The National Guard said on Wednesday roughly 200 soldiers from Texas and 300 from Illinois had gathered in the Chicago area, and were ready to protect federal personnel, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and federal property in the city.

While Trump administration officials have sounded the alarm over what they call lawless and violent protests in cities such as Chicago and Portland, Oregon, demonstrations over Trump’s immigration policies have been largely peaceful and limited in size, far from the “war zone” conditions described by Trump.

Several hundred people marched in downtown Chicago on Wednesday evening, protesting the deployment of National Guard troops and reflecting increasing anger at the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area.

In a new addition to the usual slate of protest chants, people shouted “Todos somos Silverio” or “We are all Silverio” after the fatal shooting of immigrant Silverio Villegas Gonzalez by ICE agents in a Chicago suburb in September.

Otherwise, the streets of downtown Chicago hummed with normal commuter traffic on Wednesday, except for the frequent drone of helicopters overhead, a feature of Chicago’s skies since the Trump administration’s federal incursions began last month.

In Latino and Black neighborhoods of Chicago, where immigration agents have been most visible, people have come out of their homes and businesses to criticize the perceived mistreatment of their neighbors by federal officers.

TRUMP CALLS FOR JAILING DEMOCRATIC LEADERS

Trump, elected last year following promises to crack down on immigration and retaliate against his political opponents, accused Johnson and Pritzker of failing to protect immigration officers who have been operating in Chicago.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote on social media.

Johnson, the Chicago mayor, signed an executive order on Monday creating an “ICE Free Zone” that prohibits federal immigration agents from using city property in their operations.

“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere,” Johnson said on social media.

Governor Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, likewise said he would not back down. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”

Trump’s call to imprison the two elected officials comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. Trump has frequently called for jailing his opponents but Comey is the first to face prosecution.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking at a White House event on Wednesday, said federal officers in places like Portland and Chicago had come under threat “on a regular basis.”

“Any elected official that allows this to happen … should absolutely be prosecuted, in my opinion,” Noem said after Trump directed a reporter’s question about arresting Democratic leaders to Noem.

Some official accounts of threats to federal officials have come into question. The lawyer of a woman shot by ICE agents said video evidence contradicts the government’s assertions. Likewise, police records and witness accounts of the shooting death of Villegas Gonzalez differ from the account offered by the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump reiterates threat to send National Guard to Chicago - POLITICO

LEGAL BATTLES OVER NATIONAL GUARD

Federal courts have placed some limits on Trump’s aggressive and unprecedented deployment of the National Guard where state governors say they are unwanted, but Trump has also threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law to sidestep any court orders blocking him.

The National Guard deployments will be further tested in two court hearings on Thursday.

An Illinois federal judge will decide whether to temporarily stop the National Guard from deploying to Chicago, and an appeals court in California will review Trump’s initial appeal over his decision to send troops to Portland, which a federal judge blocked over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that ICE had 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 adopted by ICE since Trump returned to office.

Trump defends sending in National Guard: 'Los Angeles would be burning' - YouTube

Amid the court challenges, Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more U.S. cities, which he said last week could serve as “training grounds” for the armed forces.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found most Americans oppose deployments without an external threat.

Reporting by Emily Schmall in Chicago and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Renee Hickman in Chicago, Dietrich Knauth in New York, Susan Heavey, Doina Chacu, Ted Hesson and Katharine Jackson in Washington, and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Frank McGurty, Nick Zieminski, Diane Craft and Deepa Babington

Trump Calls for Jailing of Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor

The president in a social-media post says Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker have failed to protect ICE

Trump calls to jail Chicago mayor, Illinois governor in immigration dispute

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