Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard troops were expected to deploy to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to send regular army in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an external threat.
