Washington, D.C. (AP) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the Illinois governor and Chicago mayor, both Democrats, should be jailed as they oppose his deployment of National Guard troops for his immigration and crime crackdown in the nation’s third-largest city. The officials said they would not be deterred.
The Republican president made the comment in a social media post, the latest example of his brazen calls for his opponents to be prosecuted or locked up — a break from longtime norms as the Justice Department traditionally has strived to maintain its independence from the White House.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” It was a reference to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It was not immediately clear what Trump was objecting to.
Johnson, in a post on X, said, “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere.” Pritzker, also on X, said” 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?”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, when asked what crimes the president believed Pritzker and Johnson had committed, failed to identify any, but she said they “have blood on their hands” and pointed to Chicago Police Department reports that at least five people were killed and 25 shot over the weekend.
“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,” Jackson said.
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 “hell hole” of crime, even 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 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 and joking that the Republican “doesn’t read” anything. 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 against 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 even further 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 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.
