Former President Donald J. Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker too!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the arrival of state military troops in the Windy City area under orders from the federal administration, despite strong objections from Illinois authorities such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including murders.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military forces readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials indicated the troops would not perform law enforcement duties but would protect federal immigration agents and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" delivered portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were set up in lines. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for safety concerns until early December.
Federal authorities has intensified deportation operations in the city in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an immigration center in Broadview.
On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and dangerous".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is set for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an directive on that day banning federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged the president of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is attempting to "justify and make acceptable the presence of military personnel under his personal authority."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. However, Trump has stated he would be prepared to activate the emergency powers, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in regions that are unable to suppress an uprising or are resisting national authority.
Since starting his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned sending military units to at least 10 cities, including Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the military presence is necessary to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Data indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were down 31% to under three hundred through late summer, according to law enforcement reports.
A recent poll released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the sending of military forces without an foreign danger.
