President Donald Trump on Wednesday intensified his clash with Illinois and Chicago leaders, calling for Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson to be jailed over their opposition to his deployment of National Guard troops and a sweeping immigration crackdown in the city.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, as tensions escalated between the White House and local officials.
The remarks followed a heated exchange earlier in the week after Pritzker publicly suggested the president might be suffering from dementia. The dispute coincides with hundreds of Texas National Guard members being stationed at an army training center outside Chicago, where they are reportedly preparing for deployment as early as this week.
Chicago has become a central battleground in the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” a national immigration enforcement effort that has triggered lawsuits and public outcry. The campaign has involved late-night federal raids that witnesses described as “military-style,” with reports that agents used flashbang grenades and detained children during operations targeting suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Mayor Johnson responded by designating “ICE-free zones” across Chicago, prohibiting federal immigration agents from operating on city-owned property. He directed city departments to install physical barriers to prevent access for federal immigration enforcement, after reports surfaced that Homeland Security had used public school parking lots during prior raids.
Illinois and Chicago filed a joint lawsuit this week seeking to halt what they described as an “illegal and unconstitutional” deployment of National Guard troops. A federal judge declined to issue an immediate injunction but scheduled a hearing for Thursday to review the matter.
At a press conference, Pritzker condemned the federal deployments as an “unconstitutional invasion,” accusing Trump of exploiting the military for political gain. “Donald Trump is using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” he said, adding that Illinois would “use every lever” to resist the federal intervention.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pritzker went further, claiming Trump’s fixation on Chicago may stem from “dementia” and calling his actions a “march toward autocracy.”
Mayor Johnson, meanwhile, urged residents to “push back against tyranny,” while local media organizations and journalists filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging excessive force against reporters covering protests.
Trump has also hinted at invoking the Insurrection Act—a 19th-century law allowing presidents to deploy federal troops domestically—to suppress what he described as “lawlessness” in cities such as Chicago and Portland. Legal experts, however, argue that current conditions fall far short of the severe unrest that historically justified such measures.
The controversy deepened further as the Justice Department, following Trump’s urging, charged former FBI Director James Comey with obstruction and making false statements to Congress. Comey’s prosecution marks the latest development in Trump’s broader campaign of retribution against perceived political adversaries.
