Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents 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 online channels, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to send active duty military 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 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday found that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
