Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials 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 current government, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid 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 the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
