In the coming days, following the declaration of a national emergency and the executive orders of Donald Trump, the Pentagon will begin deploying up to 1,500 troops on active duty to help secure the southern border in the next few days. Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses will sign the orders this Wednesday, although it is not yet determined which troops and units will be mobilized, so the total could change, as reported by AP. The Senate is expected to decide whether to approve the nominee Pete Hegseth, who passed the Armed Services Committee examination, before new allegations of mistreatment of his ex-wife were revealed.
The forces are expected to be used to support border patrol agents with logistics, transportation, and barrier construction, despite Trump's inauguration speech pledge that the US military would now focus solely on its specific function: "Defeating America's enemies."
The announcement comes amid a cascade of controversial decisions seeking a profound change in the system at all levels that could lead mayors to prison. For example, while threatening so-called "sanctuary cities," the Department of Homeland Security has revoked a Biden Administration directive urging immigration authorities to avoid raids in churches, schools, or hospitals. Now, however, the new administration, using Trump's campaign rally language, argues that intervening anywhere "empowers" agents and enables "the brave men and women of CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal foreigners, including murderers and rapists, who have entered our country illegally."
Similarly, after suspending on Monday the operation of the application that schedules appointments in some Mexican locations for those who have legally applied for asylum in the US, the administration has also canceled travel and resettlement plans for refugees who had already received authorization to travel to the United States before the January 27 deadline, including, notably, more than 1,600 Afghans who worked for US troops and are therefore desperately trying to escape the Taliban regime for almost two years.
The third significant step does not target immigrants and asylum seekers but US officials. After notifying "all employees of DEIA programs (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, Accessibility)" of the federal government that they are now "on paid administrative leave" while steps are taken to close their "initiatives, offices, and programs," the Department of Justice has further warned all local and municipal officials not to obstruct the promised mass deportation plans.
In a memorandum to employees, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove warned that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and other legal authorities "require state and local actors to comply with Executive Branch immigration law enforcement initiatives. Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with legal orders related to immigration," Bove, a former member of Donald Trump's legal team in his criminal cases, added.
Trump has given specific instructions to "investigate incidents involving any misconduct for possible prosecution," including harboring an immigrant illegally in the US, not sharing information about a person's immigration status with the federal government, and conspiracy, crimes that carry possible prison sentences upon conviction. Any refusal to prosecute someone for "resistance, obstruction, or other noncompliance" with US immigration officials' orders or requests, the memorandum states, will be sent to the Department of Justice as an "urgent" report.
This sets the stage for "selective" raids planned for major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, or San Diego, most of which are in states won by Kamala Harris in the elections and have a large number of undocumented immigrants. Tom Homan, the 'border czar' appointed by Trump, has promised that there will also be a series of devastating decrees for sanctuary cities soon, which have intensified their efforts by reaffirming local ordinances prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting federal authorities in immigrant deportation operations.
Los Angeles or San Diego, in California, further refined the 2017 measures that prohibit the city's resources from being used to support federal deportation efforts after Trump's electoral victory. During the first term, Trump cut hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to law enforcement agencies in sanctuary cities, but Biden reinstated them in 2021.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has been the most direct in opposing Trump's mass deportation plan, warning that he is not afraid to go to jail and that there will be a "Tiananmen Square moment," referring to the Chinese Army detaining and killing protesters in 1989 in Beijing, if federal immigration officials attempted to do what he considers "illegal, immoral, or un-American."