Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader should be jailed for failing to secure Immigration agents!" Trump wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor too!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements coincide with the arrival 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," Mayor Johnson stated on Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I refuse to yield. Trump is now demanding arrests of democratically chosen representatives checking his power. What's next on the road toward complete autocracy?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from Texas had reached the Elwood army reserve center, an army base approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration advances with its aggressive urban crime policy and mass deportation efforts.
The president has labeled Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", despite official statistics indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
That day, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard personnel preparing to mobilize, according to sources. Authorities indicated the troops would avoid law enforcement duties but would protect ICE officers and their facilities.
Military personnel wearing uniforms with state guard insignia were spotted at the military facility in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" delivered portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for security reasons until 6 December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city initiated legal action against the administration, seeking to block the National Guard deployment, asking a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "unlawful and risky".
A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
Mayor Johnson also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting ICE officers and related personnel from using municipal facilities as staging areas for deportation efforts.
The governor has charged Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of armed soldiers under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in states that are failing to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his second term, Trump has dispatched or mentioned deploying military units to at least 10 cities, such as major metropolitan areas and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is necessary to combat crime and protect immigration agents.
Data shows that most violent crime across the US has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, murders were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data released on Wednesday revealed that the majority of US citizens oppose the deployment of troops without an foreign danger.
