--- title: Trump Calls for Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor To Be Jailed description: Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have fought back aggressively against Trump's attempt to deploy troops to the city. canonical: https://time.com/7324132/trump-pritzker-johnson-chicago-jail/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-08T13:26:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:23:05.125Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Calls for Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor To Be Jailed og:description: Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have fought back aggressively against Trump's troop deployments. og:url: https://time.com/7324132/trump-pritzker-johnson-chicago-jail/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0ef6290a4cc378/6998ca8447fe51accc55c25c/AP25245752368903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3710 og:image:height: 2087 og:image:alt: Trump Chicago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Calls for Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor To Be Jailed twitter:description: Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have fought back aggressively against Trump's troop deployments. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb0ef6290a4cc378/6998ca8447fe51accc55c25c/AP25245752368903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Calls for Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor To Be Jailed > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Oct 8, 2025 1:26 PM UTC  Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, foreground, speaks during a press conference as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, background, looks on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, foreground, speaks during a press conference as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, background, looks on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Chicago. Kiichiro Sato—AP  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Oct 8, 2025 1:26 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to be jailed for their[ opposition to his deployment](https://time.com/7323667/chicago-ice-free-zones-trump-crackdown/) of the National Guard and accompanying immigration crackdown in the "Windy City." "Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel. His comments come a day after Pritzker suggested the president may have dementia, and hundreds of Texas National Guard troops arrived at an army training center outside the city, where they could be ready to deploy as early as Wednesday. **Read more**: [_‘Push Back Against Tyranny’: Chicago and Illinois Fight Trump’s Intensifying Crackdown_](https://time.com/7323667/chicago-ice-free-zones-trump-crackdown/) Chicago has become the center of a battle over the Trump Administration's use of National Guard troops and federal agents to enforce an immigration crackdown in Democratic-run cities against the objections of local and state leaders. In the past month, the administration has launched a wave of federal immigration raids and arrests as part of [“Operation Midway Blitz.”](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1965082306177122404) A military-style [immigration operation](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1973796727615598738) last week caused outrage as federal agents reportedly used flashbang grenades and rounded up children in the middle of the night at a residential building the Department of Homeland Security said was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates.” Mayor Johnson [ordered](https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press%5Froom/press%5Freleases/2025/october/city-property-executive-order.html) the creation of “ICE-free zones” throughout the city on Monday, barring federal immigration agents from using city-owned property in their operations and calling for city departments and agencies to use “physical barriers” to “limit access to city property for the purpose of federal immigration enforcement.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had [previously used](https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press%5Froom/press%5Freleases/2025/october/city-property-executive-order.html) Chicago Public Schools parking lots during its operations. The same day, Illinois and Chicago sued the Administration over the deployment of National Guard troops to the city, describing it as “patently unlawful,” and asking the court to “halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard.” A federal judge declined to immediately block the National Guard from being sent to the city, scheduling a hearing for Thursday. ## 'Push back against tyranny' Pritzker called the deployment of federal troops to Illinois an “unconstitutional invasion” meant to “justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers” in a press conference on Monday. “Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities,” Pritzker said. He added that Chicago has seen its lowest homicide rate in 60 years, along with record employment levels. “I refuse to let Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino continue on this march toward autocracy,” he continued, naming the Homeland Security Secretary and Border Patrol commander as well as the President. “The state of Illinois is going to use every lever at our disposal to resist this power grab and get Noem’s thugs the hell out of Chicago.” In a separate interview with the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, Pritzker suggested Trump's focus on Chicago may be caused by an undiagnosed case of dementia. “This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker said in a [telephone interview](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/07/gov-jb-pritzker-says-president-trump-deploying-troops-to-chicago-due-to-dementia-and-obsessive-fixations/) with the Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities." “And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing” he added. Johnson, meanwhile, urged Chicago residents to “push back against tyranny” through political organization. Chicago journalists and unions have filed a lawsuit against DHS alleging that “extreme force” has been used against reporters and TV crews during protests outside of the Broadview ICE facility in the Chicago suburbs. Meanwhile, Trump has said that he is [willing to invoke](https://time.com/7324040/insurrection-act-trump-national-guard/) the Insurrection Act in Chicago, a 19th-century law that allows the president to send federal troops to suppress acts that “make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” While the Act has been used during other administrations, experts tell TIME that those instances were “far more extreme” than what’s happening in Portland or Chicago. Trump is also facing blowback for his calls to deploy troops in Portland, Oregon. "Portland is burning to the ground" and is plagued by "insurrectionists all over the place", the President said—a statement that does not match images and videos from the ground. A federal judge blocked the President’s deployment of the National Guard to Portland, saying that he “exceeded his constitutional authority.” The President’s calls to jail Johnson and Pritzker come as the Justice Department (DOJ) has heeded the President’s request to [prosecute](https://time.com/7321683/trump-political-opponents-doj-prosecution/) his political foes: Former FBI Director James Comey will appear in court on Wednesday for his arraignment after the DOJ criminally charged him with obstruction and making a false statement to Congress. Trump has called for retribution against Comey due to his leadership of the FBI while it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connection to the Trump presidential campaign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7324132/trump-pritzker-johnson-chicago-jail/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7324132/trump-pritzker-johnson-chicago-jail/"},"headline":"Trump Calls for Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor To Be Jailed","datePublished":"2025-10-08T13:26:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:23:05.125Z","description":"Gov. 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