Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect 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 identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including 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 anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
