Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding 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 party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they call "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also issued an directive on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are failing to suppress an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten cities, 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 fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that serious offenses across the US has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll published on that day found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
