Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "justify 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 prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed sending military units to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, per police data.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.
