Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel 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 willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or discussed sending military units to at least 10 cities, including major metropolitan areas 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.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.
