Trump says Chicago Mayor, Illinois Governor Should Be Jailed For Response To ICE
Adedokun Waliyu
2 min read
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, accusing them of “failing to protect” Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who have been sent to the city.
His comments mark another escalation – at least in rhetoric – against Democratic leaders in Illinois who have been pushing back against his immigration crackdown there. There is no evidence that either Johnson or Pritzker has done anything to warrant jail time, and the White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking more information.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!
Trump has often called for the jailing of his political adversaries in social media posts. But in recent months, he has repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions in several cases.
Both Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and Johnson responded to Trump defiantly.
“I will not back down,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
I will not back down.
Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.
Johnson, in a social media post, said Trump was seeking to have him “unjustly arrested,” adding: “I’m not going anywhere.”
The Trump administration has spent recent weeks sending a surge of ICE agents into Chicago, the country’s third most populous city, to make hundreds of arrests for alleged immigration offences. Trump on Saturday separately authorized the activation of 300 National Guard troops in Chicago over the objections of Pritzker.
Pritzker and Johnson filed a lawsuit Monday to stop from sending an additional 400 National Guard troops from Texas to Chicago. Texas troops were arriving Tuesday in Elwood, Illinois, about 50 miles from Chicago.
Tensions between angry Chicago residents and ICE agents spiked in recent days when agents shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighbourhood. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security described the shooting as “defensive” and said the woman drove herself to a hospital and was later taken into custody by the FBI.
Democratic leaders in the state have argued that the ICE crackdown in Chicago is more about generating media attention and creating fear than making the city safer.
“Federal agents … have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens,” Pritzker said in a statement Friday. “They fail to focus on violent criminals and instead create panic in our communities.”
