Former President Donald Trump on midweek 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 endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, stating: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment 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 army reserve center, an army base roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
That day, 200 state guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Officials reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in the city in recent weeks, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action targeting the administration, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
Legal proceedings on their case is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has accused the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "justify and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic federal law limits the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to over ten cities, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were down 31% to 278 through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
