After US President Donald Trump’s order, some 500 National Guard troops were deployed near Chicago on Wednesday despite objections from the Chicago mayor and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, who condemned the militarisation of their city as an unnecessary provocation. Trump, in turn, called for the imprisonment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor Pritzker, neither of whom has been accused of criminal wrongdoing. Both officials have emerged as prominent opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown and the deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic-leaning cities, Reuters reported. The National Guard stated that on Wednesday approximately 200 soldiers from Texas and 300 from Illinois had assembled in the Chicago area and were prepared to protect federal personnel, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and federal property in the city. While Trump administration officials have raised alarms over what they describe as lawless and violent protests in cities such as Chicago and Portland, Oregon, demonstrations against Trump’s immigration policies have remained largely peaceful and limited in size, far from the “war zone” conditions portrayed by Trump. Several hundred people marched in downtown Chicago on Wednesday evening, protesting the deployment of National Guard troops and expressing growing anger at the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area.
Trump calls for jailing of Illinois and Chicago Mayor
Trump, elected last year on promises to crack down on immigration and retaliate against his political opponents, accused Johnson and Pritzker of failing to protect immigration officers 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 establishing 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 stated on social media. Governor Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, similarly stated he would not relent. “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 coincided with another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, pleading 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, stated that federal officers in locations like Portland and Chicago had faced threats “on a regular basis.” “Any elected official that allows this to happen … should absolutely be prosecuted, in my opinion,” Noem commented after Trump directed a reporter’s question about arresting Democratic leaders to her. Some official accounts of threats to federal officials have been questioned. The lawyer of a woman shot by ICE agents claimed video evidence contradicts the government’s assertions. Similarly, police records and witness accounts of the shooting death of Villegas Gonzalez differ from the Department of Homeland Security’s account.
Legal battles over national guard
Federal courts have imposed some restrictions on Trump’s aggressive and unprecedented deployment of the National Guard where state governors oppose them, but Trump has also threatened to activate an anti-insurrection law to bypass any court orders preventing him from doing so. The National Guard deployments will face further scrutiny in two court hearings on Thursday. An Illinois federal judge will determine whether to temporarily halt the National Guard’s deployment to Chicago, and an appeals court in California will examine Trump’s initial appeal concerning his decision to send troops to Portland, which a federal judge had blocked over the weekend. Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that ICE had breached a 2022 agreement limiting the agency’s ability in several Midwestern states to arrest immigrants without a warrant, in an opinion that could restrict some of the aggressive tactics adopted by ICE since Trump returned to office. Amid the court challenges, Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more U.S. cities, which he stated last week could serve as “training grounds” for the armed forces.
