Hello and welcome to the most recent updates in US politics. We start with the news that a small number of National Guard troops 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, according to a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss mission specifics that have not been officially released.
The troops are in the urban area to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command stated publicly.
The troops, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide details 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, accusing them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"The city's mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments come as state military forces have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the Trump administration, despite opposition from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Other Updates
- The president announced that the conflicting parties have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release captured individuals and detained persons.
- Reports about the Middle East deal was praised 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 definition of the core legal principle that mandates that the government provide a official justification for detaining and imprisoning people.
- All of the participants who contributed testimony at the White House "political discussion" organized by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called political content creators. The influencers report on liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
- Senate Republicans rejected a military authorization measure that would have checked Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against alleged narcotics traffickers after Democrats tried to oppose the government's unprecedented deployment of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean Sea.
- During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least a participant echoed Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been murdered by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of fatal incidents by political activists in Portland is: one.
