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Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked 20,000 National Guard units to help Trump’s administration’s immigration enforcement.
The department asked the Pentagon guard members to “help fulfill the mandate of the American people to arrest and deport illegal foreigners for crimes,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
A defense official also told Hill that the Pentagon “had received a request” this week but was unable to share content because the program was in its early stages and rule.
The New York Times reported the request for the first time and was told that Pentagon lawyers were reviewing “indoor immigration enforcement.”
It is unclear what role National Guard members will play in immigration repression, such as whether they will participate in rounding and arresting people for deportation or simply transport or security.
It is unclear whether the state governor must approve the plan or whether President Trump will move to the National Guard to control his troops. The last time the U.S. government did this was in the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, where police defeated Rodney King.
Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), quickly slammed the plan, who said she was “deeply disturbed” by Trump’s “abuse and abuse” of the U.S. military.
“Trump’s Department of Homeland Security requires 20,000 National Guard to assist immigration enforcement within our country’s borders, which they have never been asked to do, and it’s not part of the National Guard mission,” she said in a statement.
“It not only undermines preparation and our national security, but also means Trump is testing how he abuses our military’s limitations to the American people,” Duckworth added. “If this plan goes forward, no one should believe he will stop at immigration.”
The National Guard has been previously asked to assist in deportation in Texas – Republican Governor Greg Abbott granted its guard members the authority to arrest immigrants in February – but that marks the first time the national level of the guard forces have been asked to do so.
The department made a request from the DHS after Trump ordered the department to increase the deportation power of 20,000 officers last week, evacuating from state or federal agencies.
The commander-in-chief campaign aims to minimize illegal immigration and evacuate immigrants without legal status in the United States, and promises “mass deportation.”
Last month, Trump authorized the military to control federal lands across three states on the southern border and designated it as the “Defense Department” to assist in the implementation of his immigration crackdown. The move has allowed the military to play a more direct role in interacting with immigrants at the border, as it has the power to detain and search immigrants in New Mexico who lack certain documents.
Over the past decade, the National Guard has traditionally supported law enforcement agencies on border immigration through logistics, surveillance, security and setting temporary barriers or fences, and they are not trying to engage with individuals who have crossed the United States.