Ex-President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward full-blown autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 80 kilometers from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with another 300 Illinois guard forces readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Soldiers in combat attire with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the federal government, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on Monday banning ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which permits a president to send regular army in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are defying national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned deploying military units to over ten cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the military presence is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.
Statistics indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll released on Wednesday found that most Americans disapprove of the sending of military forces without an external threat.
