Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of not safeguarding ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic party.
These remarks come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the current government, despite vehement protests from Illinois authorities such as the governor and mayor.
"This marks yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on Wednesday. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, military units from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, an army base roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, such as homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred state guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were observed at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Extra barriers was placed around the perimeter.
Aviation authorities ordered flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on the city and state, labeling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for deportation efforts.
The governor has accused Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "justify and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to send regular army in states that are unable to suppress an insurrection or are defying federal law.
After beginning his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to fight violence and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that serious offenses across the US has decreased in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
A recent poll published on that day revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.
