🔗 Share this article

Hello and welcome to the current developments in US politics. We start with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has started protecting government facilities in the Greater Chicago region and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An element of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Greater Chicago region, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss mission specifics that have not been made public.

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

The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, approximately 90 kilometers southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to immediately offer details about how the personnel were equipped.

Political Context

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, charging them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

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

Additional Developments

• The president announced that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and release captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
• Reports about the Middle East deal was applauded by Republican lawmakers, who urged Trump to be awarded the peace award this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Palestinian Americans.
• During presidential gathering, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate definition of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the government provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called political content creators. The influencers cover leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more similar to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
• GOP senators voted down a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's ability to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to counter the administration's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least a participant echoed Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been killed by political extremists in the Oregon city. The accurate count of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.