Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 state military forces readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in regions that are failing to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
