Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"Chicago's Mayor belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding strong objections from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump has sought to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on that day. "I'm not going put."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", despite police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as homicides.
That day, 200 Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, according to reports. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with state guard patches were observed at the military facility in the town. Vehicles marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be prepared to activate the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are failing to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for example, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an external threat.
