Ex-President Donald Trump on midweek demanded the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering ICE Officers!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of National Guard personnel in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, notwithstanding vehement protests from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents yet another attempt where Trump attempted to have an African American leader wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying put."
Pritzker also replied via social platforms, stating: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of elected officials resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, military troops from the Lone Star State had arrived at the Elwood training facility, a military installation roughly 50 miles from the city, as the federal government advances with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has called Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, including homicides.
On Wednesday, two hundred Texas National Guard members were scheduled to arrive to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel preparing to mobilize, according to reports. Authorities indicated the soldiers would avoid police functions but would secure ICE officers and their facilities.
Soldiers wearing uniforms with Texas national guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Vehicles marked "Disaster Relief" dropped off portable toilets and other supplies. Mobile units were arranged in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has intensified immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering protests, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government, attempting to halt the National Guard deployment, asking a federal judge to stop what they describe as "Trump's long-declared '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 related personnel from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused Trump of using troops as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on Tuesday, Pritzker said that the president is trying to "rationalize and make acceptable the deployment of military personnel under his personal authority."
The nearly 150-year-old federal law restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the emergency powers, which allows a commander-in-chief to send regular army in regions that are failing to suppress an uprising or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned deploying troops to at least 10 cities, including major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and protect ICE officers.
Data shows that most violent crime nationwide has decreased in the past few years. In Chicago, for example, homicides were reduced 31% to under three hundred through late summer, per police data.
New survey data published on Wednesday found that the majority of US citizens disapprove of the sending of troops without an foreign danger.