Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to send regular army in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending troops to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were down 31% to 278 through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll released on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an external threat.
