The Trump administration is reportedly planning to mobilize up to 1,700 National Guard troops in 19 states in the coming weeks to support its immigration and crime against crime in a dramatic expansion of the controversial operation that has seen federal agents and guard troops performing activities throughout Washington, DC
The troops, which will largely be activated across Republican controlled states, will serve to support the administration’s immigration and customs enforcement operations as well as other priorities of law enforcement, according to comment from named Pentagon officials and documents obtained by Fox News.
The guards who help ICE perform tasks that may include “collection of personal data, fingerprints, DNA -swabbing and photography of ice -detention,” an official said.
The implementations take place over the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, Pr. Fox.
Texas is reportedly scheduled to have the greatest implementation.
The independent have contacted the reported states for comment as well as the Defense Ministry, Central National Guard
The guards serve according to section 502f Authority, where they technically remain under state command and control, but can help with federal missions and are paid for with federal funds. The status allows them to avoid driving by a federal law that limits military involvement in national law enforcement.
“Virginia National Guard plans to mobilize about 60 soldiers and airmen with a mission to provide administrative and logistics support for US immigration and customs enforcement in places throughout the state,” a spokesman told The independent. “VNG staff will not implement law enforcement functions, and VNG -Support will not include arrests.”
The official pointed to a July message from the Ministry of Defense, which changed the status of troops that support ice to section 32 and added 500 additional staff to the mission, which brought it to a total of approx. 1,700 troops.
The apparent expansion of the operations is coming as President Trump threatened to send the “ordinary military” to Chicago for a similar crime breakdown as well as potentially send troops to New York City.
“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent, and we will straighten it out, probably next, there will be our next after this, and it won’t even be tough,” Trump told the Writ House journalists.
Nearly 2,000 watch troops from Washington, DC, and six states are deployed to the capital as part of the president’s anti-crime and immigration pressure.
Residents of Washington are overwhelming to the federal law enforcement operation there, according to the options.
The operation has the network more than 700 arrests since the beginning earlier this month, according to the Trump administration, although it has not released in-depth information about the identity or alleged offenses that form this figure.