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Greetings and welcome to the most recent updates in American political affairs. We begin with the news that a small number of state military forces has started protecting government facilities in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.

Troop Information

An element of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Greater Chicago region, according to 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 officially released.

The troops are in the city to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated publicly.

The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, had reached on 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 activated for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide information about how the personnel were equipped.

Political Context

It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded 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) officers.

"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for failing to protect ICE personnel!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

Both the mayor and governor are Democrats. Trump's comments come as state military forces have started deployment in the Chicago area at the order of the Trump administration, despite objections from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Other Updates

• Donald Trump declared that the conflicting parties have agreed to a tentative deal to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release Israeli hostages and detained persons.
• News of the Middle East deal was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Arab-American communities.
• During White House event, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary gave a wildly inaccurate explanation of the fundamental legal concept that mandates that the authorities provide a official justification for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the participants who contributed testimony at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as political content creators. The content producers report on liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more similar to political investigation than neutral journalism.
• GOP senators rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's authority to use deadly military force against alleged narcotics traffickers after Democrats tried to oppose the administration'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 false claim that significant amounts of people have been killed by left-wing radicals in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.