Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military troops in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What's next on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday 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 "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
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 allows a president to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced 31% to 278 through late summer, per police data.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
