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Greetings and welcome to the latest developments in American political affairs. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Chicago area, according to a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on background basis in order to reveal operational details that have not been officially released.

The military personnel are in the urban area to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command said online.

The forces, along with about 300 from Illinois, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the military command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the personnel were equipped.

Political Context

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

"The city's mayor should be in prison for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

Both Johnson and Pritzker are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments coincide with national guard troops have started deployment in the Chicago area at the direction of the federal administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including the governor and mayor.

Additional Developments

• Donald Trump announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release Israeli hostages and detained persons.
• Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by Republican lawmakers, who called on Trump to be awarded the peace award this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Palestinian Americans.
• During White House event, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, Noem gave a highly incorrect definition of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the authorities provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might more accurately described as political content creators. The content producers cover leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
• Senate Republicans rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's ability to use deadly military force against alleged narcotics traffickers after opposition party tried to counter the government's extraordinary use of the armed forces to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean.
• 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 the Oregon city. The accurate count of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.