Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"Chicago's Mayor should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump attempted to have an African American leader unjustly detained," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I'm not going anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete autocracy?"
As of midweek, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as murders.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, per sources. Authorities reportedly stated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in Elwood. Trucks marked "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was installed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, sparking demonstrations, especially near an immigration center in Broadview.
Earlier this week, Illinois and Chicago initiated legal action against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an directive on that day prohibiting ICE officers and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is attempting to "rationalize and make acceptable the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting federal law.
Since starting his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as 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 protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in recent years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through August, per law enforcement reports.
New survey data released on that day revealed that most Americans oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
