Former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
These remarks coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt 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, stating: "I will not back down. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, 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 pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'War'" on the city and state, calling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their case is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in states that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
Since starting his second term, the president has sent or mentioned sending 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 armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for instance, murders were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
