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Hello and welcome to the latest developments in American political affairs. We start with the news that a small number of state military forces has started protecting federal property in the Greater Chicago region and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An element of two hundred Texas military personnel were working in the Greater Chicago region, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on background basis in order to reveal mission specifics that have not been made public.

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

The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, 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 two months. The spokesperson wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the troops were armed.

Political Context

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

"The city's mayor should be in jail for not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"

Both the mayor and governor are Democrats. Trump's remarks come as state military forces have started deployment in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the federal administration, despite objections from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.

Other Updates

• Donald Trump declared that the conflicting parties have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
• Reports about the Middle East deal was praised by GOP legislators, who urged 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 'legal principle' and deferred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate definition of the core legal principle that mandates that the government provide a official justification for arresting and jailing people.
• All of the participants who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as partisan conservative social media influencers. The content producers cover leftwing protests in a partisan fashion, more akin to political investigation than nonpartisan reporting.
• GOP senators rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's authority to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to oppose the administration's extraordinary use of the military to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
• During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers 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.