Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, 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 official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles labeled "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 security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down nearly one-third to 278 through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
