Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, two hundred state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, per reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an external threat.
