Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, 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 urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, including 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 protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
