Nationwide — President Trump has known as for the arrest of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, accusing him of failing to guard federal officers as Nationwide Guard troops arrived within the metropolis to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This week, Texas Nationwide Guard members had been deployed to the Chicago space following what federal officers described as rising assaults on ICE amenities. The transfer got here after a lethal taking pictures at an ICE constructing in Dallas, which Trump known as “an assault on legislation enforcement.”
Linking the deployment to protests exterior ICE workplaces in a number of cities, Trump argued that state and native leaders had been failing to take care of order. On Reality Social, he wrote, “Chicago Mayor must be in jail for failing to guard ICE officers! Governor Pritzker additionally!”
Mayor Johnson, Chicago’s first Black mayor, responded that Trump’s feedback weren’t new. In an interview with CNN, he mentioned, “It’s actually not the primary time that Donald Trump has known as for the arresting of a Black man, unjustly.”
He added that he had no plans to resign, saying, “I’m not going anyplace. I’m going to remain agency because the mayor of this wonderful metropolis.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker additionally condemned Trump’s remarks, accusing Trump of making an attempt to silence elected officers. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of representatives checking his energy,” he wrote on X. “What else is left on the trail to full-blown authoritarianism?”
Trump defended his determination to ship troops, saying he would possibly invoke the Rebellion Act if courts or state leaders attempt to block his orders. “If individuals had been being killed, and courts had been holding us up, or governors or mayors had been holding us up, positive I try this,” he mentioned.
Chicago and Illinois officers have filed a lawsuit to cease the deployment, calling it pointless and politically motivated. The White Home countered that the transfer was obligatory resulting from rising violence towards federal brokers and a scarcity of cooperation from native authorities.
Because the dispute continues, extra hearings are anticipated within the coming days. For now, a whole bunch of Nationwide Guard troops stay stationed round Chicago, heightening tensions between metropolis leaders and the Trump administration.