Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
