Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has sent or discussed deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
