US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for jailing Chicago's mayor and Illinois' governor, both Democrats, as his administration prepared to deploy military troops to the streets of the third-largest US city.
Trump's call to imprison the two prominent opponents of his immigration crackdown comes as another high-profile political rival, former FBI Director James Comey, was due to appear in court to face criminal charges that have been widely criticized as flimsy.
Trump has frequently called for jailing his opponents since he first entered politics in 2015, but Comey is the first to face prosecution.
On his social media platform, Trump accused Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker of failing to protect immigration officers who have been operating in Chicago.
"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump wrote, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers have gathered at an Army facility outside Chicago, over the objections of Pritzker, Johnson, and other Democratic leaders in the state. Trump has threatened to deploy troops to more US cities as well.
Trump has ordered Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC In each case, he has defied staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump's claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality.
"My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!" he wrote on Truth Social.
Violent crime has been falling in many US cities since a COVID-era spike, and National Guard troops have so far been largely used to protect federal facilities, not fight street crime.
Protests over Trump's immigration policies in Chicago and Portland had been largely peaceful and limited in size, according to local officials, far from the conditions described by Trump administration officials.
"What we have going on right now is literally domestic terrorism in Chicago," US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Fox News.
Blance represented Trump during his 2024 criminal trial in New York.
Pritzker has accused Trump of trying to foment violence to justify further militarization, and his state has sued to stop the deployment. A federal judge on Monday permitted the deployment to proceed for the time being. Another federal judge has blocked the deployment to Portland.
Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law to sidestep any court orders blocking him, which was last invoked during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.