Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
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 invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as 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 immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that most Americans oppose the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.