Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, according to police data.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
