Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or mentioned sending troops 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 fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to 278 through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.
