Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down 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 oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
