Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed 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 Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to 278 through August, according to police data.
A recent poll released on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
