The Pentagon is sending roughly 200 Marines to Florida to augment U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with “administrative and logistical” functions in another escalation of the growing relationship between the military and domestic federal agencies under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
U.S. Northern Command, which has been tasked with coordinating the recent domestic deployments of thousands of troops to fulfill various aspects of Trump’s immigration and deportation aims, announced Thursday that it had tapped Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 to assist ICE operations.
A spokesperson for NORTHCOM, Air Force Capt. May Morales, told Military.com that the contingent of Marines had not arrived in Florida as of Tuesday, but would “soon.” The news release from NORTHCOM announcing their deployment described the 200 Marines, from an aviation ground support unit known as the “Untouchables” out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, as the “first wave” of its support for this ICE mission.
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Since Trump took office in January, his administration has tasked thousands of troops with immigration enforcement, including deportation flights, barrier wall repairs and patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as protecting federal facilities in Los Angeles amid anti-ICE raid protests last month.
The Army and Marine Corps have taken on an outsized role in the growing relationship between domestic immigration enforcement and the military under the Trump administration. The Marine Corps has also partnered with ICE at its own installations with the intent of preventing foreign nationals from unlawfully entering the base — an effort that has so far resulted in the arrest of a Russian woman at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in June.
The 200 Marines are part of a larger detachment of 700 troops, both active-duty and reserve, that will be sent to support ICE in not only Florida, but Louisiana and Texas, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced last month. He said that they will serve in clerical functions associated with the processing of detainees and are being deployed to free up ICE agents for enforcement tasks.
“Service members participating in this mission will perform strictly non-law enforcement duties within ICE facilities,” the Thursday NORTHCOM news release said. “Their roles will focus on administrative and logistical tasks, and they are specifically prohibited from direct contact with individuals in ICE custody or involvement in any aspect of the custody chain.”
Morales referred Military.com to ICE when asked whether the Marines would be supporting the agency at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigrant detention camp in the Everglades that began accepting detainees the same day NORTHCOM announced the Marines’ deployment. ICE did not respond to a query sent before publication.
In addition to the active-duty troops, the Department of Homeland Security requested 20,000 National Guard troops to support immigration enforcement in May, and NPR reported that they would be used for riot control, night operations and “rural interdiction,” citing an agency memo.
The administration has long said that troops supporting federal agencies aren’t performing law enforcement duties, consistent with compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which largely bars the military from domestic policing.
But the administration has granted them authorities that blur those lines, legal and defense experts previously told Military.com, including allowing Marines deployed to Los Angeles the ability to temporarily detain people, which they exercised against an Army veteran within hours of their arrival in the city.
Related: A Veteran Was Detained by Marines. It Highlights Concerns over the Military’s Growing Ties to Law Enforcement.
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