Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to send active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
