Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media 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 current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including murders.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, 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 failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
