Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.