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Hello and welcome to the current updates in US politics. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has begun guarding government facilities in the Greater Chicago region and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Greater Chicago region, as stated by a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the news agency on condition of anonymity in order to reveal 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 government properties and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated publicly.

The forces, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had reached on 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 activated for two months. The official wasn't able to quickly provide information about how the personnel were equipped.

Background Situation

It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, charging them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump posted on Truth Social 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 order of the federal administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Additional Developments

• Donald Trump announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and release Israeli hostages and detained persons.
• Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded 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 'legal principle' and referred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate explanation of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the authorities provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the participants who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" organized by the administration on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might more accurately described as political content creators. The content producers report on liberal demonstrations in a highly political manner, more similar to opposition research than neutral journalism.
• Senate Republicans rejected a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's ability to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after opposition party tried to counter 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 repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been murdered by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.