Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
