Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump 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 federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying military units to at least 10 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 protect immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, according to police data.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of troops without an external threat.
