Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per sources. Authorities indicated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration 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, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending military units to at least 10 urban centers, 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 immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
