Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 state military forces readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
