Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions 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 the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts 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 active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
