Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration 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 Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize 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, Trump has stated he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending troops to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.