U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should face jail time, marking an escalation in his standoff with leaders in Democratic-led jurisdictions who have challenged his attempts to deploy the military in their cities.
“The Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers! Governor Pritzker also!” the president wrote.
Trump’s comments come days after his administration was sued by the state of Illinois and the City of Chicago for ordering the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Chicago as part of what he says is an effort to clamp down on rampant violent crime and illegal immigration.
U.S. District Judge April Perry permitted the deployment to Chicago but set a deadline of midnight on Wednesday for the government to respond to the state’s legal filing. A hearing was also scheduled for Thursday.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks with the media at a news conference in Chicago on Oct. 6, 2025.
AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh
Democrats have repeatedly criticized Trump’s efforts to deploy troops, labelling it an overreach of power and an “invasion” waged against everyday Americans. Still, his administration argues that negligent Democratic leaders have left the president with no choice but to crack down on crime and illegal immigration with military might.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News that “JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson have blood on their hands” and accused them of standing “idly by while innocent Americans fall victim to violent crime time and time again.”
“Instead of taking action to stop the crime, these Trump-Deranged buffoons would rather allow the violence to continue and attack the President for wanting to help make their city safe again,” she continued.
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Legal pushback from California and Oregon this week prevented Trump from deploying troops in Portland as planned. Still, his allies, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, continue to oblige. On Monday, Abbott shared an image of National Guard troops from his state deploying to Illinois, alongside the caption, “The elite Texas National Guard. Ever ready. Deploying now.”
On Wednesday, Pritzker responded to Trump’s Truth Social post on X, saying, “I will 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?”
Pritzker told reporters on Wednesday that the federal government had not communicated with state authorities about the deployment of the guard, saying its conduct was “unconscionable.”
In response to the threat from Trump, Mayor Johnson told NBC it was “not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
Chicago is home to a large immigrant population, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country’s strongest rules against co-operating with federal government immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and the state at odds with Trump’s administration as it tries to carry out his mass deportation agenda.
Trump’s recent comments follow several months of bubbling unrest as protests over the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in major cities swell across the U.S.
The White House said Monday that the presence of the National Guard is necessary to prevent attacks on ICE agents and other law enforcement.
A presidential memorandum released by the U.S. Department of War Security claimed that troops were sent to Chicago to directly support ICE agents who had “come under coordinated assault by violent groups intent on obstructing Federal law enforcement activities.”
“These groups have sought to impede the deportation and removal of criminal aliens through violent demonstrations, intimidation, and sabotage of Federal operations,” it continued.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would consider triggering the Insurrection Act, a 19th-century law that allows the U.S. military, including federal armed forces and the National Guard, which are typically not permitted to participate in policing citizens, to assist civilian authorities with law enforcement.
“I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” he said during a press conference on Monday.
“If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I would do that.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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