Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
