President Donald Trump said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson "should be in jail" after the state filed a lawsuit in an effort to block his administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops in Chicago on Monday (October 6).
"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account Wednesday (October 8) morning.
National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday (October 7) despite opposition from Democratic officials. Trump had threatened to deploy federalized National Guard troops in Chicago for several weeks, while Prtizker responded to the president's Truth Social post on his own X account.
"I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?" the governor wrote.
The lawsuit filed by Illinois government names Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Discoll as defendants.
“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the Illinois Attorney General's Office wrote in the filing.
“The Trump administration’s illegal actions already have subjected and are subjecting Illinois to serious and irreparable harm,” the lawsuit added.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson issued a statement in response to the lawsuit claiming the administration's actions were lawful.
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Jackson said via NBC News.
The lawsuit was filed hours after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deploying California National Guard units to Oregon late Sunday (October 5) night, the Associated Press reports. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by Oregon and California after Trump had mobilized hundreds of California National Guard troops to Portland in response to Immergut's previous decision to block him from using Oregon's National Guard in the city.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” said Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, while questioning the federal government's attorney.
“Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” she added later. “Why is this appropriate?”
Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement on Sunday claiming he would also sue Trump's administration after it federalized 300 California National Guard troops to be deployed to Oregon.
“In response to a federal court order that blocked his attempt to federalize the Oregon National Guard, President Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard personnel into Oregon. They are on their way there now," Newsom said in the statement obtained by NBC News. "This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power. The Trump Administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents."
Trump has repeatedly clashed with Democratic governors and mayors over his deployment of National Guard troops into several major cities, which included Pritzker criticizing the president's decision to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago on Saturday (October 4). Trump had previously sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and threatened to take similar action in Baltimore and New Orleans.