White House Considered Mobilizing National Guard To Round Up Unauthorized Immigrants

Huffington Post

Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration at some point considered mobilizing as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, according to a draft copy of an order obtained by The Associated Press.

Though the AP on Friday reported that the memo was written by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security quickly denied that the report was true.

“100% false. There is no effort to use the National Guard to round up,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in an email to The Huffington Post.

“The Department is not considering mobilizing the National Guard,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

The AP’s report says that an 11-page draft memo showed the Trump administration considering an unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans.

The memo, which has reportedly been circulating among Department of Homeland Security staff for two weeks, says participating troops would be authorized “to perform the functions of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension and detention of aliens in the United States,” according to the AP.