Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 50 miles from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending troops to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
