Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration 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 murders.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others 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 the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll released on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
