Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying 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 necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
A recent poll released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
