(Washington) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and state Governor JB Pritzker to be imprisoned, accusing the two elected Democrats of failing to protect members of the immigration police (ICE).
“The mayor of Chicago should be in jail for failing to protect ICE agents!” So does Governor Pritzker! “, he wrote on his Truth Social network.
Two hundred National Guardsmen arrived near Chicago, a US defense official said Tuesday, after the president described the large northern city as a “war zone”.
Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 700 national guards this weekend, but the Democratic opposition challenged the legality of the decree in court, accusing the billionaire of “punishing his political enemies”.
She claims that the Trump administration is using demonstrations in front of an immigration enforcement (ICE) center in the Chicago suburbs as a “pretext” to justify sending troops.
The federal judge responsible for the case has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
This weekend, a judge temporarily blocked a similar deployment in Portland (Northwest), another Democratic city. She argued that there was “no insurrection in Portland or threat to national security,” contrary to what the Trump administration maintains.
Donald Trump has been targeting Chicago for weeks and has waved the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, a compilation of 18th century laws.e and XIXe centuries. This makes it possible to proclaim a state of emergency authorizing the use of armed forces against American citizens, prohibited in principle.
The National Guard “maybe” deployed to Memphis on Friday
National Guards will “perhaps” be deployed by Friday in Memphis, a Democratic city in the Republican state of Tennessee, the local police chief said Tuesday during a city council meeting.
“A few members of the National Guard are already in Memphis (…), but perhaps on October 10, in a few days, we will see the first group of National Guards arrive in town,” said Cerelyn Davis.
President Donald Trump signed the order on September 15 to deploy soldiers from the National Guard in Memphis, as part of his fight against “criminality” which targets large American cities run by Democratic opponents.
This operation “will include the National Guard, the FBI” and other federal agencies, Donald Trump said. A total of 700 troops are expected to be deployed.
During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Pam Bondi assured her side that “the National Guard (would) be where it needs to be to ensure the safety of Americans.”
Last Saturday, demonstrators in Memphis took to the streets to protest these planned deployments. “Fight poverty, not the poor,” they demanded in particular.
While awaiting this possible deployment to Memphis, some 200 National Guardsmen from Texas have arrived near Chicago. They could be deployed in the city on Wednesday, according to a military official quoted anonymously by the daily New York Times.
The American president has described the large city in the north of the country as a “war zone” and wants to apply the same solution there as to other Democratic cities: soldiers in the streets, something very rare in the United States.
The Republican president authorized the deployment of 700 national guards in Chicago last weekend, provoking a standoff with local officials from the Democratic Party.
They challenged the legality of the order in court, accusing the billionaire of “punishing his political enemies” under the pretext of security.
“Americans, wherever they live, should not live under the threat of occupation by United States military forces, much less because their city or state has fallen out of favor with the president,” authorities in Chicago and the state of Illinois say in their appeal.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has sent or talked about sending troops to 10 cities including Baltimore, Washington, New Orleans and the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
On Sunday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guardsmen to Portland, Oregon. She argued that there was “no insurrection in Portland or threat to national security,” contrary to what the Trump administration maintains.
