Trump calls for jailing Illinois Democrats resisting troops

US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for the jailing of Democratic officials in Illinois resisting his mass deportation campaign, a day after armed troops from Texas arrived in the state to bolster the operation.

Chicago, the largest city in Illinois and third-largest in the country, has become the latest flashpoint in Trump's hardline drive to deport millions of immigrants, which has prompted allegations of rights abuses and myriad lawsuits.

The operation is being led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose masked agents have surged into several Democratic-led cities to conduct raids, stoking outrage among many residents and protests outside federal facilities.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" Trump posted Wednesday on his social media platform.

Local officials argue that city and state law enforcement are sufficient to handle the protests, but Trump claims the military is needed to keep federal agents safe, heightening concerns by his critics of growing authoritarianism.

After National Guard deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, 200 troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday.

Trump's attacks on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats, follow similar extraordinary public calls by the president for his political opponents to face legal charges.

It comes the same day that former FBI director James Comey was arraigned on charges of lying to Congress -- an indictment which came just days after Trump urged his attorney general to take action against him and others.