Posted on January 20, 2025

National Guard Troops Worry Trump Will Deploy Them for Mass Deportations

Jack Detsch et al., Politico, January 19, 2025

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.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the National Guard could be deployed for immigration enforcement depending on the “demand signal” from the White House.

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But certain legal guardrails exist. Red states can activate the National Guard to help with immigration enforcement — possibly to assist federal agents — but blue states with control of their own Guard could simply refuse to go along.

Trump has a range of options. He could leave the National Guard under state control but give troops federal funding to tackle the deportation mission, although that would allow individual governors to retain authority over their troops. Trump also could call the Guard up to active-duty status, which would give him greater ability to control troops in blue states and order them across state lines.

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There’s not much a blue state like California, Illinois, or New York can do to stop the president from federalizing their National Guard — such as when Democratic President Lyndon Johnson mobilized the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights marchers in 1965. But if the Trump administration tries to take that step, federal law would likely require the troops be confined to a logistical role providing trucks, airplanes and facilities to hold undocumented immigrants instead of more hands-on actions in support of law enforcement.

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