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Hello and welcome to the latest updates in US politics. We begin with the news that a limited contingent of state military forces has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations 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 representative for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on background basis in order to discuss operational details that have not been officially released.

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 said online.

The forces, along with about 300 from Illinois, had reached on 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 activated for 60 days. The official wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the troops were armed.

Political Context

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

"The city's mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE personnel!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"

Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's remarks coincide with national guard troops have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the federal administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.

Other Updates

• The president declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a tentative deal to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free captured individuals and detained persons.
• Reports about the Gaza agreement 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 seemed unfamiliar with the term 'legal principle' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a highly incorrect definition of the fundamental legal concept that requires that the government provide a official justification for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the witnesses who contributed testimony at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the president 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 akin to opposition research than neutral journalism.
• GOP senators voted down a war powers resolution that would have limited Trump's ability to use lethal armed action against alleged narcotics traffickers after Democrats tried to counter the government's extraordinary use of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean Sea.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least a participant echoed Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been killed by political extremists in the Oregon city. The accurate count of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.