Ex-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 ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including murders.
That day, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking protests, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, Pritzker 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 restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. 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 insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying troops to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has decreased in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, homicides were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an external threat.
