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President Donald Trump woke up this morning with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on his mind.
On his platform, Truth Social, Trump suggested that Johnson and Pritzker be jailed for the way they’re handling protests against his militarized immigration agents.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social at 7:19 a.m.
Neither Johnson nor Pritzker have been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
Trump’s message comes a day after the Texas National Guard arrived in the Chicagoland area. His Justice Department has until midnight tonight to respond to a lawsuit brought against him by Illinois and Chicago officials. The plaintiffs are asking a judge to block Trump’s efforts to federalize and deploy troops to Illinois, and to declare the actions unlawful.
Trump isn’t the first person to suggest jail time for Johnson.
In February, as a guest on the far-right podcast Real America’s Voice News, Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez said he met with Trump’s so-called “Border Czar” Tom Homan and offered to give him Johnson’s address because of the mayor’s position on deportations and maintaining the city’s sanctuary city status.
“When I met with Tom Homan in December I offered to give him Brandon Johnson’s home address so that if he wanted to arrest him immediately and do us all that favor right on with him because I think at the end of the day you can preach your policy all you want,” Lopez said on the podcast, referring to Johnson, “but if this is a federal matter, you need to get out of the federal government’s way to allow them to execute their authority. If the Mayor of the city of Chicago thinks he can hide behind our police and not-for-profits organizations to avoid jail for his rhetoric, he’s going to be sorely mistaken.”
On Monday, Johnson signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free Zones” on city-owned property and participating private businesses.
