WASHINGTON (WDNews) — Pentagon officials have announced that over 1,700 National Guard troops will deploy in 19 states over the course of the next several weeks to support immigration enforcement actions by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One of the biggest National Guard rollouts in recent memory, the massive activation is scheduled to take place from late August to mid-November. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming are among the states where troops are expected to deploy.
Guard personnel will not make arrests, according to officials. Rather, they will assist with case management, transportation, secretarial work, and other administrative and logistical tasks at ICE processing sites. In order to free up immigration officials to concentrate on enforcement, their duties may involve gathering personal information, taking prisoners’ fingerprints, taking pictures of them, and swabbing their DNA.
Since Title 32 authority governs the mobilization, troops will continue to be governed by their state governors while working closely with DHS. The Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts federal troop participation in civilian law enforcement, does not apply to National Guard members under Title 32, in contrast to active-duty forces.
Although sources hinted that Texas would receive the most Guard troops, it is still unknown how many will be deployed to each state and for how long. The White House stated that the initiative is distinct from the administration’s larger campaign to combat crime.
