Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, 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 dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has sent or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced 31% to 278 through August, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
