Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, two hundred state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down 31% to 278 through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
