Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with another 300 state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic federal law limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
