Armed National Guard troops are accompanying immigration agents as they carry out mass deportation raids on the streets of Los Angeles.
The troops, who were mobilized by President Trump, are providing “operational security” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after they faced attacks and threats from anti-ICE rioters, sources told The Post, which first broke the story.
It’s “in case s–t hits the fan,” said a federal law enforcement source.
A second source added: “It’s needed for extra safety and security doing operations.”
Photos released by ICE on Tuesday showed National Guard troops standing by, rifles at the ready, as ICE agents made an arrest.
ICE agents are happy that the National Guard soldiers will have their backs, but some are concerned that their presence could make the federal immigration agents an even bigger target, the first source said.
“They’re showing up with Humvees and uniforms,” the source said.
In response to the National Guard’s new role, California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court to block the troops from assisting with ICE raids.
ICE agents often try to fly below the radar before they swoop in on a target, traveling in unmarked SUVs and operating in street clothes.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Salwan Georges/The Washington Post |
The White House wants the national guard to play a bigger role in immigration enforcement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in an interview Thursday.
The Trump administration wants to use the National Guard more broadly to enact the president’s immigration agenda, according to border czar Tom Homan, documents and people familiar with plans.
“They can’t make immigration arrests, but they can certainly augment for security, transportation, infrastructure, intelligence,” Homan said in an interview with The Washington Post.
A month before President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard and sent them to Los Angeles as part of the government’s response to protests over immigration enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security requested more than 20,000 National Guard to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The National Guard would be tasked with helping ICE catch fugitives as well as guard detention centers, process and transport migrants and other tasks, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Pentagon officials say they are looking into the request but have not yet decided on the number of troops it will send.
Homan said he is also open to using the National Guard to respond to protests in other places, if the situation on the ground resembles Los Angeles. The protests there have been limited to a few locations, with local leaders saying they did not think a federal response was necessary, but the Trump administration has painted a different picture.
“If other cities go down the same path, I think that’s an option we should consider, absolutely,” he said. “As long as it’s peaceful protest we’re okay, but if it gets out of hand like it did in L.A., then the president will consider it on a case-by-case basis.”
On Thursday night, a district judge ruled the deployment of troops in response to the protests was unlawful. But an appellate court later in the night blocked that decision, allowing Trump to keep the California National Guard deployed for now.
The administration has been considering the use of the National Guard “for months” in immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States, Homan said, but he declined to specify who was responsible for the idea. Trump and his key adviser, Stephen Miller, have long said they hope to use the military to realize a mass deportation program.
Key pieces of that plan appear to be in motion now. --->READ MORE HERE
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