Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused 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 "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic federal law limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
