Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Officials indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.