Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of 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 his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "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 road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, 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, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll published on that day found that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
