Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago 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 coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that most Americans oppose the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
