Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to 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 the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, seeking to block 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 case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day banning ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or mentioned deploying military units to over ten urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
