Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I will not yield. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "dangerous disaster zone", despite police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with another 300 Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, according to sources. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Extra barriers was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has escalated deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also signed an directive on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
Pritzker has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on the previous day, he said that Trump is attempting to "justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In the city, 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 military forces without an foreign danger.
