“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump posted on his social media platform.

The Republican was referring to Democratic leaders in Illinois who oppose his order for immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents to conduct aggressive raids in Chicago.

Trump’s government has targeted Democratic-run cities around the nation for raids on migrants, often conducted by masked, plainclothes agents.

The crackdown fulfils a key promise made by Trump in his election victory last year, where he described the US as under attack by waves of foreign “criminals”.

A parallel anti-crime campaign has been conducted by the military in the cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Opponents describe the ICE and military deployments as a bid by Trump to assert authoritarian powers and to sow chaos by provoking a response.

There has been especially strong pushback in Chicago, a Democratic electoral stronghold, where 200 national guard soldiers sent from Texas arrived late Tuesday – against the wishes of local leaders.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced “ICE-free zones” where city-owned property will be declared off-limits to the federal authorities.

Johnson accused Republicans of wanting “a rematch of the Civil War”.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker, seen as a potential Democratic candidate in the 2028 presidential election, has become one of Trump’s most fiery critics.

He has said he wants prosecutors to investigate the legality of ICE activities in Chicago and says Trump is motivated by wanting to “punish his political enemies”.

Trump has faced other setbacks. A federal judge in Oregon blocked Trump’s bid to deploy troops in Portland, saying his descriptions of an emergency there were false and that the US is a “nation of Constitutional law, not martial law”.

Trump says he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to force deployments of troops around the country if courts or local officials are “holding us up”.