Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, two hundred Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
The administration has escalated deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
