Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration 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 Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were set up in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
