Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.
