Former President Donald Trump on midweek called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in recent years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
