Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
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 describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
