Hello and welcome to the latest updates in American political affairs. We start with the report that a small number of National Guard troops has started protecting government facilities in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.
Deployment Details
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 news agency on condition of anonymity in order to reveal mission specifics that have not been officially released.
The military personnel are in the urban area to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated publicly.
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 military command and have been activated for two months. The official wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the personnel were equipped.
Background Situation
It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.
"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for failing to protect ICE personnel!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both the mayor and governor are Democrats. Trump's comments coincide with state military forces have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Additional Developments
- Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and free captured individuals and detained persons.
- Reports about the Middle East deal was applauded by Republican lawmakers, who called on Trump to be given the Nobel Peace prize this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Palestinian Americans.
- During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect definition of the fundamental legal concept 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 "antifa roundtable" organized by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called political content creators. The content producers report on liberal demonstrations in a highly political manner, more similar to political investigation than neutral journalism.
- GOP senators rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's ability to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to oppose the administration's unprecedented deployment of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
- During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been killed by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The correct number of fatal incidents by political activists in Portland is: a single incident.
