Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
