Trump will use ‘military assets’ to remove migrants in US illegally

(NewsNation) — President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday morning he plans to use “military assets” to remove migrants accused of entering the U.S. illegally.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump shared a post by Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton which read, “Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”

Trump commented, “True!”

It’s unclear what military assets Trump intends to use, but he’s mentioned invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite migrant removal in the past. Critics argue the law is out of date and cite its most recent use during World War II to hold Japanese Americans in internment camps without due process.

The Alien Enemies Act refers to foreign nationals of a country at war with the U.S., and America has not formally declared war on another nation since 1942. However, some believe the language is broad enough it could be used in peacetime to circumvent the rights of immigrants.

Those rights include the right to request asylum and the right to due process and equal protection. Legal understanding of those rights and Constitutional language protecting them developed after the act was put into place, so there is the possibility that a court challenge could block such efforts.

National Guard troops have been used to support border defense for years, though those troops are typically used for logistics, including communication and transport, to free up Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents for frontline work.

Immigration was a top issue in the 2024 presidential campaign, and Trump has promised to stabilize the southern border after more migrants crossed during the Biden administration than any other in history.

Though there are still few details to the plan, some Republican lawmakers along the border have already weighed in with support for the plan.

“There should be a mass deportation for all of these convicted criminal aliens, for all of them. We should absolutely go down and hunt down and round up illegal aliens that are gang members that are gang members, that are hurting our communities and deport them immediately,” said Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales.

There are an estimated 11 million people who entered the U.S. illegally in the country and Trump’s deportation plan is estimated to affect around 20 million families.

Former Trump Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and Project 2025 co-author Ken Cuccinelli told “The Hill on NewsNation” that by the end of January, the U.S. military will enforce immigration through legal ports of entry on the southern border, reducing illegal crossings.

Cuccinelli argued that while complete control is unattainable, the goal is to make illegal entry impractical. He said the military presence would involve physical presence and reconnaissance assets, not tanks or planes.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs responded to Trump’s deportation plans saying that Arizona law enforcement will not be involved in the military-led border control.

“You don’t need state help to really to do any of it, but particularly the border security is truly a, properly, a federal responsibility,” Cuccinelli said.