The Trump administration will be utilizing military aircraft to assist in the removal of thousands of illegal migrants out of the United States.
The Department of Defense (DOD) will provide military airlift in support of government efforts to deport roughly 5,000 illegal migrants from California and Texas, the DOD announced in a Wednesday statement. The military assistance follows a national emergency declaration made by President Donald Trump, a move that is helping his administration better utilize military assets as he embarks on his immigration enforcement agenda.
“First, DoD will begin augmenting its forces at the southwest border with an additional ~1500 ground personnel, as well as helicopters with associated crews, and intelligence analysts to support increased detection and monitoring efforts,” Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said in a statement. “This represents a 60 percent increase in active-duty ground forces since President Trump was sworn in Monday.”
“Second, the Department will provide military airlift to support DHS deportation flights of more than five thousand illegal aliens from the San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas sectors detained by Customs and Border Protection,” Salesses continued. “DHS will provide inflight law enforcement, and the State Department will obtain the requisite diplomatic clearances and provide host-nation notification.”
While on the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pledged to conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is tasked with leading deportation efforts.
In addition to the executive orders handed down by Trump, the administration has published several directives that make it easier for ICE agents to apprehend and deport illegal migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security announced a directive Tuesday that expands expedited removal — a policy that allows immigration enforcement officials to quickly remove illegal migrants from the U.S. by bypassing the immigration court process — from 100 miles within an international border to anywhere within the country. In another directive handed down Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will no longer be prohibited from conducting activities in so-called sensitive locations, areas like churches or schools where agents were previously not allowed to apprehend migrants.
Four C-130 and C-17 aircraft will be used in the deportation flights and other military planes will be on call if needed, according to Task and Purpose. Around 100 airmen will be involved in the removal operations.
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