Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard 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 immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled 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.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending troops to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
