Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" 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 deployment of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court 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 scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an directive on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
