Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 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 official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged 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 deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows 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, per police data.
New survey data published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
