Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
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 "justify and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides 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 sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
