Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"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 anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties 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 the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 cities, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
