Greetings and welcome to the current updates in US politics. We begin with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has begun guarding federal property in the Greater Chicago region and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.
Troop Information
An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Chicago area, according to a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the news agency on condition of anonymity in order to discuss mission specifics that have not been made public.
The troops are in the urban area to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities 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 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to immediately offer details about how the personnel were equipped.
Political Context
It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"The city's mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's remarks come as national guard troops have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Additional Developments
- The president declared that the conflicting parties have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
- News of the Gaza agreement was praised by Republican lawmakers, who urged Trump to be given the Nobel Peace prize this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Arab-American communities.
- During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to Kristi Noem. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate definition of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the authorities provide a official justification for detaining and imprisoning people.
- All of the witnesses who contributed testimony at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called political content creators. The influencers report on leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more akin to political investigation than neutral journalism.
- GOP senators voted down a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's authority to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after opposition party tried to counter the administration's unprecedented deployment of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
- During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least a participant echoed Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been killed by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.
