Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek called for the detainment of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the federal administration, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities including the governor and mayor.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via online channels, declaring: "I will not yield. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the road toward full-blown authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, two hundred state guard members were expected to deploy to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Authorities reportedly stated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered sanitation facilities and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has intensified deportation operations in Chicago in recent weeks, triggering protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is set for the next day.
The mayor also signed an directive on Monday banning ICE officers and others from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has charged Trump of using military forces as "staged tools" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, he said that the president is attempting to "justify and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. Yet, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or mentioned sending troops to at least 10 urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, claiming that the military presence is essential to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime across the US has declined in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.
