Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data released on that day found that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
