President Trump called on Wednesday for the arrest of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for not doing enough to protect federal agents as they try to arrest illegal immigrants.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Governor Pritzker also!”
The suggestion is the latest escalation in a battle between the president and the local officials, who are resisting Mr. Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement in the Chicago area, and his new deployment of National Guard troops to keep a lid on things.
Mr. Johnson signed an order this week declaring city property to be “ICE-free” zones, barring federal agents from staging there. He threatened arrest for agents who flout the policy.
And Mr. Pritzker said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that Mr. Trump is “suffering dementia.”
“This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head,” Mr. Pritzker said Tuesday night. “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.”
Things have deteriorated in the Chicago area since early last month, when Homeland Security announced it would start a major deportation operation. That sparked testy protests outside of a suburban migrant processing facility run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Russell Hott, director of ICE’s Chicago field office for Enforcement and Removal Operations, described the chaos, including more than 30 ICE officers injured and ongoing threats, in court filings this week.
“It is clear that protesters have sought to permanently maim ERO personnel,” he said.
He said the protests are organized and intended to disrupt ICE’s ability to carry out arrests and deportations. One tactic involves a protester jumping on the hood of a vehicle, then another running to stand behind the vehicle to block it in. Others then run up and slash the tires.
He said it happened to him and more than a dozen others.
Mr. Hott said local police initially responded to emergency calls from ICE but stopped on Sept. 12. The Broadview Police Department said it had been “directed to abstain from responding to any requests from ICE,” he said — though he said the police department said it would respond to 911 calls from protesters.
SEE ALSO: National Guard arrives in Illinois as Trump pursues crime crackdown
For their part, local officials said ICE’s heavy presence is taking a toll around the area, including endangering prosecutions of major criminals.
Assistant State’s Attorney Jose Villareal, in court papers in a lawsuit to stop the National Guard deployment, reported on one murder case, two sexual assault cases and multiple domestic violence cases that he said have been imperiled by witnesses who are now afraid to come forward for fear of being arrested by ICE.
Mr. Villareal said in the murder case that the spouse of the victim has told prosecutors she “is afraid to come to court and testify.
“Their fear of arrest makes it more likely that her husband’s murderers will go free and justice will be denied,” Mr. Villareal said.
He also said, in one aggravated child sexual assault case, the mother of the two victim children has repeatedly rescheduled a meeting with prosecutors because she fears bringing her children with her. And in another case, the sex assault victim’s mother won’t bring the child to court to an offer meeting out of fear of an immigration arrest.
Mr. Villareal also cited one domestic violence case where the victim declined to cooperate because she feared her spouse — the person accused in the case — would be deported.
“In my experience as an assistant state’s attorney, noncitizen victims of crime more freely cooperated with prosecutions by my office before the recent surge in immigration enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security,” the prosecutor said.
Mr. Trump has called up National Guard troops to quell what he says are unruly anti-ICE protests and too-high street crime.
Illinois and local officials blame the protests on the aggressive enforcement of immigration law by ICE, and say crime is not as bad as Mr. Trump has said.
In another filing, prosecutors said violent crimes are down so far in 2025 compared to the previous year. Homicide is down 27%, Robbery is down 34% and criminal sexual assault is down 3%.
Police say their clearance rates for those crimes are all up, as is the rate of pre-trial detention of those accused of the crimes.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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