Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration 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 against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to send regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
