Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has said he would be willing to activate the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has dispatched or discussed sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were down 31% to 278 through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
