Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, 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, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize 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 said he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send active duty military in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
