🔗 Share this article

Greetings and welcome to the latest developments in US politics. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has started protecting government facilities in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.

Troop Information

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Greater Chicago region, as stated by a representative for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on background basis 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) facilities and other federal facilities 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, approximately 90 kilometers 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 quickly provide information about how the personnel were equipped.

Political Context

It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, accusing them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

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

Other Updates

• Donald Trump announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
• News of the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who urged Trump to be given the Nobel Peace prize this week, but received with greater caution by Palestinian Americans.
• During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'legal principle' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect explanation of the core legal principle that requires that the government provide a official justification for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who contributed testimony at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might more accurately described as political content creators. The influencers report on leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more similar to political investigation than nonpartisan reporting.
• GOP senators rejected a war powers resolution that would have limited Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to counter the government's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
• During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least one witness repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been killed by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of killings by political activists in Portland is: a single incident.