Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia 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 set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged the president 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 "justify and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
