Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
