Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, two hundred 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. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.
