Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which permits a president to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
