Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, two hundred state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order 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 "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
