Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials 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 that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to over ten urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced 31% to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
