US President Donald Trump called for the arrest of the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois, both Democrats, as his administration prepares to send military troops to the streets of the third largest city in the US.
Trump’s call to arrest two prominent opponents of his immigration crackdown comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, is due to appear in court to face criminal charges widely criticized as weak.
On his social media platform, Trump accused Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker of failing to protect immigration agents working in Chicago.
“The mayor of Chicago should be in prison for not protecting ICE officers! Governor Pritzker too!”, Trump wrote, referring to personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers have gathered at an Army facility on the outskirts of Chicago, despite objections from Pritzker, Johnson, and other Democratic leaders in the state. Trump threatened to send troops to more U.S. cities, which he said last week could serve as “training camps” for the army.
Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, following his previous deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In each case, he defied fierce opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of disorder and violence do not reflect reality.
“My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!”, he wrote on his social media platform.
Violent crime has been falling in many U.S. cities since its peak during the Covid era, and National Guard troops have been used mainly to protect federal facilities rather than combat street crime.
Protests against Trump’s immigration policies in Chicago and Portland have been largely peaceful and limited in size, according to local authorities, far from the conditions described by Trump administration officials.
Pritzker accused Trump of trying to foment violence to justify greater militarization, and his state sued to block the military deployment to the city. On Monday, a federal judge allowed the deployment to proceed for now. Another federal judge blocked the deployment to Portland.
Trump threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law to override any court order blocking him. That law was last invoked during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Source: brasil247.com