Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize 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. Yet, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending troops to at least 10 cities, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, according to law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
