Trump Confirms Plan to Use Military to Deport Illegals, but Legal Hurdles Remain: Experts
The goal of securing the border and conducting a mass deportation of illegal immigrants has been a major part of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign. As he assembles his administration, Americans are gradually receiving more details on how he plans to work this out. On Monday, Trump confirmed that the military will be involved.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted on Truth Social, “GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming [Trump] administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.” In response, Trump wrote, “TRUE!!” The exact details of how the military would be used have yet to be unveiled, but speculation has pointed to a number of reasons why it will be beneficial.
The Trump administration has already announced their plan to reassign the thousands of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have been reportedly sitting behind desks under the Biden-Harris administration. Trump’s appointed Border Czar Tim Homan has said he plans to “flood” sanctuary cities to make arrests. But The Post Millennial pointed out that there still may not be enough ICE agents, which means using the additional aid of the military would likely “solve the need for more personnel to deport illegal immigrants.” However, as Family Research Council Senior Fellow for National Security Bob Maginnis explained to The Washington Stand, there’s a lot more to consider.
According to Maginnis, using the military to deport illegal deportations is a “complex issue.” The idea can’t be separated from the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), which “bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law.” This act dates back to 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Because the PCA requires that troops, when utilized for civil matters, act “in a way that does not infringe upon law enforcement’s responsibilities and authorities,” Maginnis noted how it could lead to issues.
He explained that there are numerous examples of utilizing the military such as the “National Guard on the southern border, basically in support of Border Patrol, ICE, and so forth.” The military can and has been used as “support mechanisms” along the border, or as fly support. It only becomes problematic, Maginnis emphasized, “when you’re using the armed forces for law enforcement inside the United States. … [T]hat would be my first concern.”
However, Maginnis added, “There’s no question it’s needed to get rid of the criminals and the people that are” posing threats to America, and there are concerns that will need to be addressed moving forward to determine “what the homeland security threat truly is.” But Maginnis believes that, as part of the “broad picture,” there’s plenty of ways the military could be useful in dealing with the border crisis that grew enormously under President Joe Biden. “[It’s] really … going to come down to what the president’s executive order states and the limitations that are imposed on us by the various legal councils and the Department of Defense or Homeland Security,” Maginnis stated.
He continued to note how the courts play a role in the outworking of this plan to deport illegals with the aid of the military. Especially since, as Maginnis suspects, “the Democrats [are likely to] immediately launch into federal courts [claiming that] this is a misuse or unauthorized use of U.S. Armed Forces equipment and service members.” But despite their potential opposition, Maginnis insisted that “supporting law enforcement is a different proposition, and that’s where [we can] thread the needle and say, ‘You know, the people up front have the authority as ICE agents or Border Patrol agents or law enforcement, but the military people … can provide intelligence … transportation … [and] support for facilities and the like.’”
Regardless, Maginnis believes it’s unlikely this plan would go into effect quickly. It’s uncommon to “train law enforcement skills amongst military personnel,” he said. “And I guarantee that the Biden administration, [in] the next 60 or so days, is not going to allow that to happen in anticipation” of deporting illegal immigrants. “But [in] whatever we can do legally, there’s no question that [Trump] will use the authority and the means that we have available.”
Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin who serves as Family Research Council’s executive vice president told TWS, “Surveys and polls showed us that, as a nation, most Americans want to stop allowing people to come across our border illegally. Given that millions have come across the border under the Biden administration, in addition to those that were already here, we have a huge problem.” Part of this problem is that “American taxpayers are paying the price for it.”
As Boykin stated, “All we need to do is look at the Laken Riley trial and multiply that by hundreds of cases of American citizens being killed, severely injured, and trafficked as sex slaves. It is time for this stop.” Arguing that “deportations are essential,” Boykin expects the country to “know within the first week of President Trump’s term what his plan is and get in behind him on it.” Regarding his plan to utilize the military, Boykin first explained how he wishes “this [situation] was not such a dire issue so that we could spare the military from getting involved in deportation. However, I see no other way to do this expeditiously.” But, just like Maginnis, Boykin drew attention to some of the potential legal hurdles.
In addition to PCA, he addressed how “there is a provision called ‘The Insurrection Act,’ which must be signed by the president for the military to operate domestically. But even then, the rules of engagement must be perfectly clear so that no soldier winds up in a court with a jury of his peers when he was just doing his job. Their job must be one of logistics, communications, and material. Furthermore, military involvement needs to have an end date clearly articulated before they are thrown into this.”
The right leaders, he added, would allow for those on the ground to “do an admirable job and make us all proud.” The primary problem Boykin sees is “with the current leadership, as after four years under President Biden, we have a lot of woke commanders that have spent more time shoveling the woke agenda to their troops and may not be ready themselves for a mission like this.”
“I hope that is not the case,” Boykin concluded, “and I am one American who would like to see our military make us all proud again.”
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.