Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from the Lone Star State 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 mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned sending troops to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
