Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
