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Greetings and welcome to the current updates in American political affairs. We start with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has started protecting federal property in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Chicago area, as stated by a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to 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 protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other federal facilities 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 500 troops are under the military command and have been activated for two months. 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 state governor, accusing them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

"The city's mayor should be in prison for failing to protect ICE personnel!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"

Both the mayor and governor are members of the Democratic party. Trump's remarks come as state military forces have begun arriving in the Chicago area at the direction of the Trump administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Additional Developments

• Donald Trump declared that the conflicting parties have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and free Israeli hostages and detained persons.
• Reports about the Gaza agreement was praised by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize this week, but received with greater caution by Palestinian Americans.
• During White House event, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a highly incorrect explanation of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the authorities provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people.
• All of the participants who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called partisan conservative social media influencers. The influencers report on leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
• Senate Republicans rejected a military authorization measure 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 Sea.
• During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been murdered by political extremists in the Oregon city. The correct number of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.