United States President Donald Trump has called for the arrest of two Democratic politicians who have opposed the military presence of National Guard troops in the city of Chicago.
The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, have both firmly opposed the increasing immigration crackdown tactics from the Trump administration, as well as the deployment of the National Guard to typically Democrat-leaning cities, such as Los Angeles.
On Monday this week, both the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit looking to block the federalisation and deployment of the National Guard.
Johnson also signed an “ICE Free Zone” executive order earlier this week, prohibiting agents from “using any City-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago”.
However, just two days later, approximately 500 National Guard troops were deployed near Chicago, on Trump's orders, to help protect federal property and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, in response to protests over the administration's immigration policies and tactics.
Trump also took to social media and called for both Johnson and Pritzker to be jailed for “failing to protect ICE officers”.
During a press conference Wednesday morning, local time, Mayor Johnson described the deployment as “illegal, unconstitutional, it's dangerous, it's wrong”.
“Illinois will not let the Trump administration continue on their authoritarian march without resisting,” Governor Pritzker added.
“We will use every lever at our disposal to stop this power grab because military troops should not be used against American communities.”
