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Hello and welcome to the latest developments in American political affairs. We start with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has started protecting government facilities in the Chicago area and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.

Deployment Details

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Greater Chicago region, as stated by a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the news agency on background basis in order to reveal operational details that have not been officially released.

The military personnel are in the city 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, approximately 90 kilometers southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the military command and have been activated for two months. The official wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the troops were armed.

Political Context

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois 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 his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

Both the mayor and governor are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments come as state military forces have started deployment in the Chicago area at the direction of the Trump administration, despite objections from state authorities, including Pritzker and Johnson.

Other Updates

• The president announced that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and release captured individuals and detained persons.
• News of the Gaza agreement 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 White House event, 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 official justification for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who contributed testimony at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called political content creators. The influencers cover leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than neutral journalism.
• GOP senators voted down a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's ability to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to oppose the administration's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
• During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least one witness repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been murdered by left-wing radicals in the Oregon city. The correct number of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.