Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents 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, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard troops were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" 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 municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In the city, for example, murders were down 31% to 278 through August, according to police data.
A recent poll published on that day found that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
