Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit 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 staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in regions that are failing to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, according to police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
