AFT’s Weingarten on Trump’s Call for Gov. Pritzker, Mayor Johnson to be Jailed

CHICAGO—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after President Donald Trump demanded the incarceration of senior Illinois political leaders following the deployment of the Texas National Guard to the city’s streets:

“The warning signs have been blinking red for months; but this is now a five-alarm fire: Calling for elected officials to be jailed because they disagree with the national leader is what happens in dictatorships, not democracies. Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson have rejected calling up the National Guard not because the troops’ entire presence is based on a lie, but because President Trump’s pursuit of it violates state sovereignty.

“At a time when masked ICE agents are abducting and disappearing people off the streets, using pepper spray on clergy and instilling fear in the community, these calls for more militarization will only inflame tensions.

“I am glad to be in Chicago this week, visiting schools and working with Mayor Johnson to stand up for the city: its children, teachers and communities. Today’s unhinged threat from the president violates every precept of democracy and is straight out of the authoritarian playbook that Gov. Pritzker warned us about. It’s also what I warned of in my book—and why we will always fight for the American people and for education, freedom and democracy.”