Greetings and welcome to the latest developments in US politics. We begin with the report that a limited contingent of National Guard troops has begun guarding government facilities in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.
Troop Information
An element of two hundred Texas military personnel were operating in the Greater Chicago region, according to a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the news agency on background basis in order to discuss operational details that have not been made public.
The military personnel are in the city to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other federal facilities and police officers, Northern Command said online.
The troops, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the military command and have been deployed 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 called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, 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 not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump posted on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments coincide with state military forces have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the Trump administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.
Other Updates
- Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a tentative deal to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
- Reports about the Middle East deal was applauded by GOP legislators, who urged Trump to be awarded the peace award this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Arab-American communities.
- During presidential gathering, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'legal principle' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect explanation of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the government provide a official justification for detaining and imprisoning people.
- All of the participants who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" organized by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as partisan conservative social media influencers. The influencers cover liberal demonstrations in a highly political manner, more similar to political investigation than neutral journalism.
- Senate Republicans voted down a military authorization measure that would have checked Trump's ability to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to counter the administration's extraordinary use of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean Sea.
- During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness repeated Trump's false claim that significant amounts of people have been killed by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of fatal incidents by political activists in Portland is: a single incident.
