Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders 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 current government, notwithstanding strong objections 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 online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic federal law limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
