Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
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 emergency powers, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
