Immigration enforcement has involved not only DHS but the IRS, the military, and the departments of State, Defense and Justice.
The Trump administration’s focus on immigration enforcement has led multiple government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the departments of State, Defense, and Justice, as well as the military, to expand their immigration-related activities beyond the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Traditional measures have been prioritized by DHS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration for the southern border.
The president has also reinstated his “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first administration and restarted work on the border wall. The “catch and release” protocol used by the previous administration was brought to an end, and DHS has revoked previous administration rules that restricted the actions of ICE as it pertained to arresting illegal immigrants at institutions such as schools.
Since implementing the new policy, ICE arrests of criminal illegal immigrants have doubled, and the agency’s arrests of fugitives at large have tripled, according to the DHS.
Daily border encounters have dropped 93 percent since Trump took office, the department said, and the president has made good on his promise to carry out mass deportations, with the administration detaining illegal immigrants, including violent criminals, at Guantanamo Bay.
Military Assistance
The Department of Defense has taken on a key role in border security, which is something that began several administrations ago under President George W. Bush.
Trump outlined his plan for changes to the Department of Defense’s responsibility in a Jan. 20 executive order where he stated that the military has “a long and well-established role in securing our borders against threats of invasion, against unlawful forays by foreign nationals into the United States.”
Under the last Bush administration, active-duty military and National Guard members were sent to the southern border of the United States to assist Border Patrol agents.
Since taking office, Trump has increased the number of troops at the border and promised to send more.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the department’s assets were available to assist in the expulsion of people in the country illegally. Those assets include the use of Guantanamo Bay, which has been the destination of at least 13 immigrant removal flights, loaded with what law enforcement called the “worst of the worst” of the criminal illegal immigrants detained. At least one flight has moved 177 Venezuelan illegal immigrants from Guantanamo Bay, deporting them to Honduras.
