Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic 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 allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending military units to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
