Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
