WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday stated that the Illinois governor and Chicago mayor should be incarcerated due to their resistance to his plan of deploying National Guard troops to address immigration issues and crime in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city. Despite Trump’s remarks, the officials were firm in their opposition.
The Republican president made this comment in a social media post, once again demonstrating his tendency to call for legal action against his Democratic adversaries—a significant deviation from the traditional practice of the Justice Department, which typically maintains its independence from presidential influence.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” This referred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It was not immediately clear what Trump was objecting to.
Responding on X, Johnson noted, “This is not the first instance of Trump attempting to unjustly incarcerate a Black man. I’m not going anywhere.” Pritzker, also responding on X, asserted, “I won’t step back. Trump is now pushing for the arrest of elected officials counterbalancing his authority. What’s left on the road to total authoritarianism?”
Abigail Jackson, spokeswoman for the White House, was questioned about the specific crimes Trump believed Pritzker and Johnson had committed, but she did not specify any. However, she accused them of having “blood on their hands,” citing Chicago Police Department data that showed at least five people were killed and 25 shot over the weekend.
Jackson further commented, “Instead of acting to curb the crime, these Trump-Deranged individuals prefer to let the violence persist while criticizing the President for trying to make their city safe again.”
National Guard troops from Texas are positioned outside Chicago, despite a lawsuit by the state and city to block the deployment.
The troops’ mission is not clear, but the Trump administration has undertaken an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Chicago.
Trump has called Chicago a “hellhole,” though police statistics show significant drops in most crimes, including homicides. Protesters have skirmished with agents outside a detention center in the village of Broadview, outside Chicago.
A woman in Chicago was shot by a Border Patrol agent over the weekend after she and a man were accused of using their vehicles to strike and then box in the agent’s vehicle. The agent then exited his car and fired five shots at Marimar Martinez, 30.
Martinez and Anthony Ruiz, 21, are charged with forcibly assaulting a federal officer and were ordered to be released Monday pending trial. Martinez’s lawyer, Christopher Parente, claimed body camera footage contradicts the federal government’s narrative of her actions.
Trump’s comment came as former FBI Director James Comey appeared in a Virginia courtroom, pleading not guilty in a case that has intensified concerns about the Justice Department’s efforts to target Trump adversaries.
When Trump was campaigning for the White House in 2024 at a time he faced criminal and civil investigations, he told supporters, “I am your retribution.”
The Justice Department has also opened criminal investigations this year against California Sen. Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for New York City mayor. The three, all Democrats, have all denied wrongdoing and say the investigations are politically motivated.
Pritzker, one of Trump’s fiercest critics, has called the president a “wannabe dictator,” comparing his leadership to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The governor has suggested that Trump, who has threatened Chicago with apocalyptic force, suffers from dementia.
Pritzker, eyed as a potential 2028 White House contender, has strongly fought any federal intervention along with Johnson, saying it is not wanted or needed in Illinois or Chicago.
“Certainly there’s a lot more going on in the world than for him to send troops into Chicago,” Pritzker told The Associated Press in August during a visit to a South Side neighborhood where a campaign videographer was also in tow. “He ought to be focused on some of the bigger problems.”
Pritzker alleges that Trump is trying to militarize cities to affect the outcome of the 2026 election by impeding voting efforts in Democratic strongholds like Chicago.
The heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune is seeking a third term as governor next year and has sidestepped questions about higher ambitions. Pritzker was among the finalists considered as a running mate for Democratic Kamala Harris’ presidential run in 2024.
Trump has often singled out Chicago and Illinois because they have some of the country’s strongest immigrant protections. Both are “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which limit cooperation between police and federal immigration agents.
Johnson, a first-term mayor, has strengthened those protections with executive orders, including one that bars immigration agents from using city-owned land as staging areas for operations. He calls Trump’s actions unconstitutional.
Johnson has accused Trump of waging a war on Chicago and having an “animus” toward women and people of color. Nearly one-third of Chicago’s 2.7 million residents are Black and roughly one-third are Hispanic.
“He’s a monster,” Johnson told reporters in May. “Period.”
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Tareen reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.
