Trump urges arrest of Illinois Dems over resisting troops
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US President Donald Trump called for the imprisonment of Illinois officials resisting his mass deportation campaign, as Texas troops arrived in Chicago.
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Enforcement and Removal Operations agents walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. (AP)
US President Donald Trump demanded the jailing of Democratic officials in Illinois who were resisting his mass deportation campaign, one day after armed troops from Texas arrived in the state to support the operation.
"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump stated on Wednesday on Truth Social.
Chicago, Illinois's largest city and the third biggest in the nation, has become the newest center of conflict over Trump's aggressive push to remove millions of immigrants, an effort that has caused claims of rights violations and started many legal cases.
JB Pritzker, who is considered a potential Democratic candidate for the 2028 presidential election, has become one of Trump's most fiery critics. He pledged Wednesday to "not back down," citing a long list of grievances he held against Trump's immigration crackdown.
"Making people feel they need to carry citizenship papers. Invading our state with military troops. Sending in war helicopters in the middle of the night," the Illinois governor wrote on X, asking, "What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
On the other hand, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to Trump's actions by announcing "ICE-free zones" that would declare city property off-limits to federal authorities and by accusing Republicans of wanting "a rematch of the Civil War."
Mayor Johnson had earlier signed an executive order that barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from city-owned property, making it the third order designed to limit the agency’s reach.
Earlier on October 8, Texas National Guard Troops arrived in the Chicago area, a deployment that comes amid intense immigration enforcement operations and growing confrontations in areas like Broadview, where law enforcement used tear gas and pepper spray against protestors.
The Trump administration targeted Chicago as part of a series of cities for expanded federal enforcement, following its recent attempt to deploy troops to Portland, which federal courts then blocked. In June, National Guard troops were sent to Los Angeles, where ICE conducted large-scale raids, and in August, thousands of federal agents were deployed to Washington, DC.
