Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. 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 approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel 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, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.
