Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize 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 civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
