Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities 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 recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending troops to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
