🔗 Share this article

Hello and welcome to the current updates in US politics. We begin with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has begun guarding federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Troop Information

An element of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Chicago area, as stated by a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details that have not been officially released.

The troops are in the city to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command said online.

The troops, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the military command and have been deployed for two months. The official wasn't able to quickly provide details about how the personnel were equipped.

Background Situation

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for not protecting ICE personnel!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's comments coincide with national guard troops have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including the governor and mayor.

Additional Developments

• Donald Trump announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
• Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who urged Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Arab-American communities.
• During presidential gathering, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a wildly inaccurate explanation of the fundamental legal concept that mandates that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people.
• All of the witnesses who contributed testimony at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might more accurately described as partisan conservative social media influencers. The content producers cover leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more similar to opposition research than neutral journalism.
• Senate Republicans voted down a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's ability to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after opposition party tried to oppose the administration's unprecedented deployment of the military to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been killed by left-wing radicals in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.