Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"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 social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, 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 "dangerous disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending military units to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
