Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on that day found that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
