Former President Donald J. 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 failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the administration advances with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are failing to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
