Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic federal law limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that serious offenses across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, according to police data.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
