This morning, Current President Donald Trump released a social media post on TRUTH that says, “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!”. This post came in response to the open resistance Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor Jay Robert “JB” Pritzker have shown to Trump, calling the National Guard into Chicago and frequent ICE raids.
The social media post came as a response to citizens of Chicago assaulting ICE Officers while they attempt to detain and deport illegal immigrants. Agents in the field have been the center of protests since their arrival, frequently being surrounded by protestors. More recently, protestors have begun using vehicles to box in federal officers.
Tensions continue to rise as individual actors take increasingly extreme actions, with some drivers ramming government vehicles. Last Saturday, agents were attacked with vehicles, ramming into them and beginning to box in the agents with 10 cars. A driver allegedly attempted to ram agents who were forced out of their vehicles, resulting in the agents being forced to open fire to defend themselves.
The driver was able to get away and was later identified when they drove themselves to the hospital to be treated.
The reason the president made his statement calling for arrests is that, allegedly, the Chief of Patrol ordered local cops to stand down and not respond to the incident, endangering the lives of the government agents. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) has disputed these claims, stating that they did respond to the shooting scene. It is hard to be certain about what is true or false with the increasingly chaotic situation developing in Chicago as protests grow.
Trump has increasingly made statements calling for the arrest of his political figures, with this most recent statement being added to the collection. Whether any legal action will actually be taken is currently uncertain, but updates may come if the situation develops.