Ex-President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation 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, including murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or discussed deploying troops to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
