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Hello and welcome to the latest developments in American political affairs. We start with the report that a limited contingent of state military forces has begun guarding federal property in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Troop Information

An unit of two hundred Texas military personnel were operating in the Greater Chicago region, according to 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 city to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel, 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 five hundred personnel are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The official wasn't able to immediately offer details about how the personnel were equipped.

Political Context

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of failing to protect 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 Democrats. Trump's comments coincide with state military forces have started deployment in the Chicago area at the order of the Trump administration, despite objections from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Other Updates

• The president announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free Israeli hostages and detained persons.
• News of the Middle East deal 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 seemed unfamiliar with the term 'legal principle' and deferred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect explanation of the core legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called partisan conservative social media influencers. The content producers cover leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to political investigation than neutral journalism.
• Senate Republicans voted down a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's ability to use deadly military force against alleged narcotics traffickers after Democrats tried to oppose the government's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean Sea.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been murdered by political extremists in the Oregon city. The correct number of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.