Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for 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 social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. 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 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful 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.
Pritzker has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
