Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
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 administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their case is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has said he would be willing to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were reduced 31% 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 troops without an external threat.
