Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
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 recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are resisting federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending troops to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced 31% to 278 through August, according to police data.
New survey data released on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
