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Greetings and welcome to the most recent updates in US politics. We start with the report 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, as confirmed by authorities.

Troop Information

An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Chicago area, as stated by a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on background basis in order to discuss mission specifics that have not been made public.

The troops are in the urban area to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other federal facilities and police officers, Northern Command said online.

The forces, 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 quickly provide information about how the troops were armed.

Political Context

It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"

Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's remarks come as state military forces have begun arriving in the Chicago area at the order of the Trump administration, despite opposition from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.

Other Updates

• Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to end the fighting in Gaza, and free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
• Reports about the Middle East deal was praised 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 appeared not to recognize the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect definition of the core legal principle that mandates that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people.
• All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" organized by the president on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might more accurately described as political content creators. The influencers report on liberal demonstrations in a highly political manner, more similar to political investigation than nonpartisan reporting.
• GOP senators rejected a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's ability to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to counter the government's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been killed by left-wing radicals in the Oregon city. The correct number of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.