The Pentagon Won’t Track Troops Deployed on U.S. Soil. So We Will.

In his first six months in office President Donald Trump has overseen the deployment of nearly federal troops on American soil including personnel from the National Guard the Army the Navy the Air Force and the Marines according to the Pentagon s inhabitants statements But the true number of troops deployed may be markedly higher When demanded directly the Army explained it has no running tally of how a great number of troops have been deployed These federal forces have been operating in at least five states Arizona California Florida New Mexico and Texas with more deployments on the horizon all in arrangement of the Trump administration s anti-immigrant agenda Experts say military involvement in domestic anti-immigrant operations undermines American democracy and has nudged the United States closer to a genuine police state If the president can use the military as a domestic police force entirely under his control it can be used as a tool of tyranny and oppression This level of involvement of the military in civilian law enforcement in the interior of the country is unprecedented and really dangerous mentioned Elizabeth Goitein senior director of the Brennan Center s liberty and national safeguard operation who described The Intercept that latest deployments violated the Posse Comitatus Act a bedrock th-century law seen as fundamental to the democratic tradition in America which bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement She added If the president can use the military as a domestic police force entirely under his control it can be used as a tool of tyranny and oppression We ve seen it all around the world and throughout history The norms surrounding the use of military force within U S borders are eroding and the executive branch is operating with free rein emboldened by a legislature and judiciary seemingly uninterested in curtailing its actions These soldiers have been sent to patrol the limit put down popular protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations participate in ICE raids and assist in immigration enforcement missions from coast to coast Here to the extent of what is known so far is what they ve been up to President Donald Trump began the further militarization of America on his first day back in office Our southern margin is overrun by cartels criminal gangs known terrorists human traffickers facilitators unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries and illicit narcotics Trump broadcasted on January directing the military to assist the Department of Homeland Prevention in obtaining full operational control of the southern edge Despite the fact that Trump s fearmongering was his typical hyperbole more than troops are deploying or have deployed to the southern margin according to U S Northern Command or NORTHCOM which oversees U S military activity from Mexico s southern territory line up to the North Pole Under the direction of NORTHCOM military personnel including soldiers from the Fourth Infantry Division at Fort Carson in Colorado one of the Army s most of storied combat units have deployed under the moniker Joint Task Force-Southern Boundary or JTF-SB since March bolstering approximately organization members who were already supporting U S Customs and Perimeter Protection s margin safety mission One-third of the U S territory line is now altogether militarized due to the creation of four new national defense areas or NDAs sprawling extensions of U S military bases patrolled by troops who can detain immigrants until they can be handed over to Dividing line Patrol agents The Air Force is responsible for the in the last few days created South Texas NDA which encompasses federal property along miles of the Rio Grande River The Navy controls the Yuma NDA which extends along miles of federal property on the U S Mexico edge near the Barry M Goldwater Air Force Range in Arizona The New Mexico NDA created in April spans approximately miles of noncontiguous land along that state s boundary serving as an extension of the Army s Fort Huachuca Another NDA was created in May in West Texas and covers approximately miles of noncontiguous land between El Paso and Fort Hancock serving as an extension of the Army s Fort Bliss Related When Soldiers Patrol the Margin Civilians Get Killed Around military personnel were assigned to JTF-SB to enhance US Customs and Edge Patrol s limit to identify track and disrupt threats to limit defense chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell revealed at the beginning of the month JTF-SB says the current number of personnel deploys stands at while NORTHCOM says the current number of federal troops providing perimeter measure is closer to No one indeed knows how a large number of troops have been involved in perimeter operations this year We do not maintain a running total of System Members who have served with JTF-SB since its inception so the total number since March is at present unavailable Kent Redmond a spokesperson for JTF-Southern Limit informed The Intercept NORTHCOM didn t have a number on hand either But more than Task Forces have assisted JTF-SB including Task Force Mountain Warrior consisting of soldiers from the nd Stryker Brigade Combat Organization Task Force Castle made up of soldiers from the st Engineer Battalion Marines and Navy personnel from Task Force Sapper and Marines and sailors from Task Force Forge The latter replaced the Task Force Sapper troops and are now conducting patrols in the Yuma NDA Since March alone Parnell declared the JTF-SB has conducted more than patrols including more than trilateral patrols with CBP and the Mexican military There have however been only seven temporary detentions by troops within the National Defense Areas according to Redmond He noted the seven persons were detained in place by JTF-SB personnel for less than minutes The amount being spent to have the world s best fighting force walk around the demarcation to pick up a handful of people is shocking Setting aside the threats to democracy and liberty the sheer waste is staggering The amount being spent to have the world s best fighting force walk around the perimeter to pick up a handful of people is shocking stated Goitein who also noted that the detentions violated the Posse Comitatus Act They may think if they detain people for only minutes it s not a violation but that s not how the law works Goitein explained They may also say that the Posse Comitatus Act purely doesn t apply when the purpose is to protect a military base but here it s clear that the primary purpose is enforcement of immigration law Related How Post- Visions of an Imperiled Homeland Supercharged U S Immigration Enforcement The southern dividing line increasingly resembles the site of one of America s post- foreign occupations as military personnel employ weapons and gear originally intended for foreign battlefields Troops have used Stryker armored vehicles for the first time on the confines since Black Hawk helicopters Humvees hulking up-armored MRAPs long range advanced scout surveillance systems which the Army uses for line of sight target acquisition Black Hornet microdrones tethered aerostats surveillance balloons with high-powered cameras command launch units which provide thermal imaging AN TPQ- Quick Reaction Capability Radar used in the event of attack by rockets and mortars AN MPQ- Sentinel radar systems used to counter low-flying aircraft and drones while conducting ground patrols mounted patrols in armored vehicles helicopter aerial deterrence patrols and even air assaults The military has even dispatched Navy warships offshore to secure the boundary After battling Yemen s Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Aden earlier this year for example the USS Stockdale a guided-missile destroyer was deployed to aid NORTHCOM s southern demarcation operations alongside the Coast Guard on the U S Mexico maritime limit That ship took over for the USS Spruance another guided-missile destroyer drafted into anti-immigrant operations We are dead serious about OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the southern demarcation Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported in a post on X in March Since then the Department of Homeland Measure has repeatedly broadcasted historically low apprehensions along the southern frontier The numbers don t lie under President Trump s leadership DHS and CBP have shattered records and delivered the the bulk secure demarcation in American history mentioned DHS Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this month And as early as April DHS disclosed Customs and Dividing line Protection now has total control of the frontier Despite all of this as well as the huge influx of troops and weapons of war deployed at the frontier when The Intercept inquired whether full operational control of the confines had been achieved and if not why not DHS demurred A senior DHS official who offered comments on the condition of anonymity for no discernible reason provided rote talking points and praise of Trump and Noem The official added that the department was grateful for JTF-SB s encouragement More than troops have also been deployed to Los Angeles since early June The National Guard soldiers and Marines operating in Southern California under the command of the Army s Task Force were sent to protect the safety and safety of federal functions personnel and property In practice this has mostly meant guarding federal buildings across LA from protests against the ongoing ICE raids sweeping the city Since Trump called up the troops on June they have carried out exactly one temporary detainment a Task Force spokesperson informed The Intercept Related The Military Occupied LA for Days and All They Did Was Detain One Guy Parnell the Pentagon spokesperson described this deployment as Task Force supporting more than missions in over separate locations from nine federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Agency the U S Marshal Function ICE and the Department of Homeland Guard in a briefing in early July Task Force failed to provide any other metrics regarding troops involvement in raids arrests or street patrols in response to questions by The Intercept Troops were sent to LA over the objections of local leaders and California Gov Gavin Newsom In addition to guarding federal buildings troops have also in recent weeks participated in raids alongside camouflage-clad ICE agents An assault on MacArthur Park a recreational hub in one of LA s largest part immigrant-heavy neighborhoods on July for example included armed U S troops and military Humvees Its main accomplishment was rousting a summer day camp for children No arrests were made California National Guard soldiers also backed ICE raids on state-licensed marijuana nurseries this month The troops took part in the military-style assaults on two locations one in the Santa Barbara County town of Carpinteria about miles northwest of LA and one in the Ventura County region of Camarillo about miles from LA ICE detained more than people including U S citizens during the joint operations One man Jaime Alan s Garcia died while trying to flee from the raid in Camarillo On July Task Force declared that it would release approximately members of the California National Guard from their LA duty That same day NORTHCOM declared that the Marines from the nd Battalion th Marine Regiment were leaving Los Angeles but would be replaced by the rd Battalion th Marine Regiment Last Tuesday Trump administration agents released that about more National Guard members deployed to LA would be distributed from system On Monday the Trump administration released it was withdrawing the active-duty Marines from Los Angeles The withdrawals followed repeated reporting by The Intercept highlighting the failure of the troops to do much of substance All stated since the deployments began around troops have been sent to southern California according to Becky Farmer a NORTHCOM spokesperson Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants On the other side of the country Marines are being hustled to Florida to aid the administration s anti-immigrant agenda Responding to a DHS request Hegseth approved a mobilization of up to advancing National Guard and Reserve forces The first contingent approximately Marines from Marine Wing Encouragement Squadron Marine Corps Air Station New River North Carolina have been mobilized to backing ICE s interior immigration enforcement mission in Florida NORTHCOM stated earlier this month The command noted that they were only the first wave of ICE assistance NORTHCOM says additional forces will be deployed to Louisiana and Texas Hundreds more Guardsmen are expected to be sent to assist in more than a half dozen other states including Arkansas Indiana Iowa Nebraska South Carolina Utah and Virginia Related Greg Abbott s Confines Theater Is Having Disastrous Consequences for Everyone Involved Certain of these same states are also using their own National Guard members in their own anti-immigrant operations More than Texas National Guard soldiers and airmen on state duty are engaged in Operation Lone Star a confines assurance initiative launched by Texas Gov Greg Abbott in March Texas s forces were bolstered until April by members of the Indiana National Guard Nearly Florida National Guard members are also on state duty conducting base camp protection at the remote migrant detention center in the state s Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz While Trump insisted that the swamp gulag was reserved for deranged psychopaths and particular of the the greater part vicious people on the planet it was revealed that hundreds of detainees had committed no offense other than civil immigration violations Governors should be doing everything in their power to avoid their state s national guard troops being pulled into this lawless authoritarian power grab not spending precious information to help it along Sara Haghdoosti the executive director of Win Without War narrated The Intercept The Trump administration s use of military forces in its anti-immigrant crusade has been criticized as a publicity stunt and an authoritarian power play The directive signed by Trump calling up the California National Guard for example cited U S C a provision within Title of the U S Code on Armed Services that allows the federal deployment of National Guard forces if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Regime of the United States There was however no rebellion Vice President JD Vance even in recent weeks vacationed at Disneyland in Anaheim about miles from LA Still experts say that the stunt deployments represent a clear danger to American democracy by violating the Posse Comitatus Act normalizing the use of the military in civilian law enforcement pursuits and further transforming the armed forces into a tool of domestic oppression by aiding ICE which increasingly operates as a masked secret police force ICE is running a nationwide campaign of violent racist kidnappings and Hegseth s Pentagon is bending over backward to make the military into ICE s chief sidekicks revealed Haghdoosti Troops abetting violence against their own neighbors isn t tenable for our communities our democracy or the troops themselves The post The Pentagon Won t Track Troops Deployed on U S Soil So We Will appeared first on The Intercept