Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on his platform Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of National Guard troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I am staying put."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its hardline urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per sources. Authorities indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'Battle'" on the city and state, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, Trump has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on Wednesday found that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
