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Greetings and welcome to the latest updates in US politics. We begin with the report that a small number of National Guard troops has begun guarding government facilities in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.

Deployment Details

An element of 200 Texas Guard troops were working in the Chicago area, as stated by a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details that have not been officially released.

The military personnel are in the city to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command said online.

The forces, along with about 300 from Illinois, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, approximately 90 kilometers southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide details about how the personnel were equipped.

Background Situation

It comes as 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.

"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump posted on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"

Both the mayor and governor are Democrats. Trump's remarks coincide with state military forces 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.

Other Updates

• 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 Middle East deal was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be given the peace award this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
• During White House event, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate 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 "antifa roundtable" organized by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called political content creators. The influencers cover leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
• Senate Republicans voted down a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against alleged narcotics traffickers after opposition party tried to oppose the administration's unprecedented deployment of the military to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
• During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been killed by left-wing radicals in the Oregon city. The correct number of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.