Trump calls for jailing Democratic leaders as troops prepare for Chicago deployment

• Trump threatens to jail Chicago mayor and Illinois governor.
• National Guard troops gather outside Chicago despite opposition.
• Former FBI chief due in court to face criminal charges.
  

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for jailing Chicago's mayor and the governor of Illinois, both Democrats, as his administration prepared to deploy military troops to the streets of the third-largest US city.

Neither Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has been accused of criminal wrongdoing, though both have emerged as prominent opponents of Trump's immigration crackdown and deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic-leaning cities.

Trump's call to imprison the two elected officials comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, was due to appear in court to face criminal charges that have been widely criticised as flimsy.

Trump has frequently called for jailing his opponents since he first entered politics in 2015, but Comey is the first to face prosecution.

On his social media platform, Trump accused Johnson and Pritzker of failing to protect immigration officers who have been operating in Chicago.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump wrote, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

Johnson signed an executive order on Monday creating 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," he said on social media.

Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, likewise said he would not back down. "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 has vowed to harness the power of the federal government to target his enemies. Aside from Comey, his Justice Department is investigating several other high-profile critics. All have denied wrongdoing, and Comey is expected to plead not guilty to charges of lying to Congress.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that ICE had violated a 2022 agreement that limits the agency's ability in several Midwestern states to arrest immigrants without a warrant, in an opinion that could limit some of the aggressive tactics adopted by ICE since Trump returned to office.

US District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said the agency had wrongly declared the agreement was cancelled, and extended it until February.

Troops to Chicago

Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers have gathered at an Army facility outside Chicago, over the objections of Pritzker, Johnson and other Democratic leaders in the state. Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more US cities, which he said last week could serve as "training grounds" for the armed forces.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that most Americans oppose the deployment of troops without an external threat.

Trump has ordered Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. In each case, he has defied staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump's claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality. He has also said he will send troops to Memphis.

"My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!" he wrote on his social media platform.

Violent crime has been falling in many US cities since a Covid-era spike, and National Guard troops have so far been largely used to protect federal facilities, not fight street crime.

Protests over Trump's immigration policies in Chicago and Portland had been largely peaceful and limited in size, according to local officials, far from the conditions described by Trump administration officials.

At an immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois, outside Chicago, four demonstrators held signs and chanted slogans on Wednesday in front of a wall of heavily armed officers. The administration has said National Guard troops could be sent to guard the facility, but none had arrived by early afternoon.

Pritzker has accused Trump of trying to foment violence to justify further militarisation, and his state has sued to stop the deployment. A federal judge on Monday permitted the deployment to proceed for the time being. Another federal judge has blocked the deployment to Portland.

Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law to sidestep any court orders blocking him, which was last invoked during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.