Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
The governor responded 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 full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation approximately 50 miles from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence 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, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has sent 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 necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
