Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including the governor and mayor.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials reportedly stated the soldiers would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers in combat attire with state guard insignia were observed at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his second term, the president has dispatched or discussed sending troops to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Statistics shows that serious offenses across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an foreign danger.
