🔗 Share this article

Former President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of not safeguarding ICE agents.

"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on social media early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor too!"

Both officials identify as the Democratic faction.

Trump's statements coincide with the arrival of National Guard personnel in the Chicago region following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests 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 Wednesday. "I am staying anywhere."

The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials checking his power. What remains on the road toward complete authoritarianism?"

By Wednesday morning, military units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from Chicago, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.

The president has called Chicago a "dangerous hellhole", even though police data indicate notable reductions in many offenses, such as murders.

That day, 200 Texas National Guard troops were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred Illinois guard forces preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Officials indicated the troops would avoid police functions but would secure federal immigration agents and government buildings.

Soldiers in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the military facility in Elwood. Trucks labeled "Emergency Disaster Services" dropped off portable toilets and essential items. Trailers were arranged in lines. Extra barriers was installed around the compound.

Aviation authorities imposed no-fly zones over the military base for security reasons until early December.

The administration has intensified immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, sparking protests, particularly near an processing facility in Broadview.

On Monday, state and city filed a lawsuit targeting the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, asking a federal judge to stop what they call "Trump's long-declared 'Battle'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "unlawful and risky".

Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.

Mayor Johnson also signed an executive order on Monday banning federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as operation bases for enforcement actions.

The governor has charged the president of using troops as "staged tools" and "chess pieces".

At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that Trump is attempting to "rationalize and normalize the presence of military personnel under his direct command."

The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in civilian law enforcement. However, the president has said he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a president to send active duty military in regions that are unable to put down an uprising or are resisting federal law.

After beginning his second term, the president has sent or discussed sending military units to over ten cities, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and California cities like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, arguing that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and defend ICE officers.

Data indicates that serious offenses nationwide has declined in recent years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced 31% to 278 through August, according to police data.

New survey data published on Wednesday found that most Americans oppose the sending of troops without an foreign danger.