Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down 31% to 278 through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
