🔗 Share this article

Hello and welcome to the most recent updates in US politics. We start with the news that a limited contingent of state military forces has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.

Deployment Details

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Greater Chicago region, as stated by a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on background basis in order to reveal mission specifics that have not been made public.

The military personnel are in the urban area to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command said online.

The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for two months. The official wasn't able to immediately offer information 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 Illinois governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"

Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's comments come as national guard troops have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite objections from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Other Updates

• The president declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
• Reports about the Middle East deal was praised by Republican lawmakers, who urged Trump to be awarded the peace award this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
• During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'legal principle' and referred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect definition of the core legal principle that mandates that the authorities provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people.
• All of the participants who contributed testimony at the White House "antifa roundtable" organized by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called political content creators. The content producers cover leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more similar to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
• GOP senators 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 counter the government's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been killed by left-wing radicals in the Oregon city. The correct number of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.