Trump suggests Illinois governor, Chicago mayor should be ‘in jail’

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker should be imprisoned for “failing to protect” federal immigration enforcement officers.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” he wrote on his US social media company Truth Social in a post amid rising tensions about the administration’s immigration enforcement policy and the deployment of federal National Guard forces to the city.

CNN reported Monday that a plane carrying troops from the Texas National Guard landed in Indiana, which neighbors Illinois.

The reported flight followed a post by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the US social media company, X, where he shared a photo and wrote: “The elite Texas National Guard. Ever ready. Deploying now.”

Earlier Monday, Illinois and Chicago officials filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to block the deployment, arguing that Trump’s order to federalize state troops was unconstitutional. The lawsuit, submitted by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to the federal court in Chicago, described the move as “illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional.”