Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 state military forces preparing to mobilize, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
