Greetings and welcome to the latest updates in US politics. We start with the news that a small number of state military forces has begun guarding federal property in the Chicago area and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.
Troop Information
An element of two hundred Texas military personnel were working in the Chicago area, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the news agency on condition of anonymity in order to reveal operational details that have not been made public.
The troops are in the city to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties 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 military command and have been deployed for two months. The official wasn't able to quickly provide information about how the troops were armed.
Background Situation
It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"The city's mayor should be in prison for not protecting ICE personnel!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"
Both the mayor and governor are Democrats. Trump's remarks come as state military forces have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the Trump administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Additional Developments
- Donald Trump declared that the conflicting parties have agreed to 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 awarded the peace award this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
- During presidential gathering, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect explanation 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 "antifa roundtable" organized by the president on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as political content creators. The content producers report on leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
- 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 opposition party tried to counter the administration's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean.
- During the White House "antifa roundtable" 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: a single incident.
