National Guard members fear landing in the center of a political tussle between red state governors and blue state attorneys general over Donald Trump’s expected crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The large-scale deportation effort could begin as soon as Monday with Republican governors vowing to deploy the Guard if Trump asks and officials in Democratic states readying quick legal pushback. Some of the 435,000 troops worry they’ll get pulled into a legally murky mission rooting out people in communities where they have day jobs such as sheriffs, cops or firefighters.
“Our North Star is how lawful is it?” said Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, in an interview about the incoming president deploying the Guard. “If they are operating lawfully, there’s nothing for us to do, and the president is allowed to do that. If he’s acting unlawfully, as he did many times under Trump 1.0, we sued him over 120 times.”
Trump has said he would bring in the military to help with mass deportations, but he has not specified whether he means state-based National Guard members or active duty troops.
“I don’t want to be seen as a Gestapo,” said one former senior military official who is in close contact with current Guard members and was granted anonymity to speak about a legally precarious situation. “It’s important that everybody understands who they are and what they’re doing.”
But the confusion within the Guard hasn’t stopped Republican governors from pledging quick support to Trump’s immigration plans. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said earlier this month he would use the National Guard to assist with deportations if asked by the incoming U.S. administration. Other officials in red states, who pushed for more deportations even before the election, have expressed their willingness to deploy the Guard.
“Governor Reeves will do everything in his power to support President Trump’s plans to close our southern border,” Cory Custer, deputy chief of staff to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, said in a statement. “Nothing is off the table.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the National Guard could be deployed for immigration enforcement depending on the “demand signal” from the White House.
“I’m very confident that we would have very, very positive results from both the National Guard and the state Guard,” DeSantis said at a recent press conference. DeSantis has outlined plans to authorize the National Guard to work alongside a new immigration czar and directly deport people.
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