The Department of Homeland Security has asked for 20,000 National Guard troops to assist with immigration roundups across the country, and the Pentagon is reviewing the unusual request, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press.
DHS asked for the troops to help carry out President Donald Trump's "mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens," department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. She said DHS will "use every tool and resource available" to do so because the 'safety of American citizens comes first."
Unlike the troops deployed at the southern border , these National Guard units would come from the states and be used to assist in deportation operations in the interior of the country.
How the troops would be used may depend on whether they remain under state governors' control . Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops under federal orders cannot be used for domestic law enforcement, but units under state control can.
The addition of 20,000 National Guard troops would provide a huge boost to immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the country, has a total staff of about 20,000 people spread across three divisions.