Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Chicago 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 wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
These remarks 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 represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of military personnel under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a president to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 urban centers, including major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has decreased in recent years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to 278 through August, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
