Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send active duty military in regions that are failing to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
