National Guard Forces Now Protecting Government Facilities in Greater Chicago Region, Authority Says

Hello and welcome to the current developments in US politics. We start with the report that a small number of state military forces has begun guarding federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.

Deployment Details

An unit of two hundred Texas military personnel were working in the Chicago area, as stated by a representative 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 made public.

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

The troops, 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 military command and have been activated for 60 days. The official wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the personnel were equipped.

Background Situation

It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

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

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

Other Updates

  • The president announced that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release captured individuals and detained persons.
  • News of the Middle East deal was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded the peace award this week, but received with greater caution by Palestinian Americans.
  • During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'legal principle' and referred to his homeland security secretary. In May, the secretary 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 participants who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" organized by the president on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called partisan conservative social media influencers. The influencers cover liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more similar to political investigation than neutral journalism.
  • GOP senators voted down a military authorization measure that would have checked Trump's authority to use deadly military force against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to oppose the government's extraordinary use of the armed forces to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean.
  • During the White House "antifa roundtable" 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 accurate count of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.
Tara Craig
Tara Craig

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering startups and digital transformation.