Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions 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 Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has sent or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
