Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
The governor responded via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has sent or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics indicates that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of military forces without an external threat.
