Trump says he will use military to deport undocumented migrants

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to use the US military to carry out what he has promised to be the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in history.

Trump shared a post from right-wing foundation Judicial Watch President John Fitton, saying, "GOOD NEWS: 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."

"TRUE!!!" Trump said on his proprietary Truth Social platform.

Neither Trump nor Fitton specified which parts of the military are being mulled for the deportations, but an 1878 law known as the Posse Comitatus Act significantly restricts the use of the armed forces to enforce domestic policies within the US.

The act was originally solely applied to the Army, but has in subsequent amendments been broadened to cover the Marines, Navy Air Force and Space Force.

About 11 million people are estimated to be living in the US illegally, down from a peak of roughly 12.2 million in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

Migrant rights groups have been preparing to challenge in court any action from the incoming Trump administration seeking to fulfill Trump's campaign pledge to carry out an historic purge of undocumented migrants.

Trump has previously announced several high-profile immigration hardliners to fill his Cabinet, including Tom Homan to be his next “border czar,” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to be the next homeland security secretary, and longtime ally Stephen Miller as his White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

Miller and Homan are both veterans in immigration policy, having served in the first Trump administration. They were instrumental in Trump’s “family separation” policy that removed migrant children from their parents, in a policy meant to instill fear among those mulling further illegal crossings of the US border, as well as other key immigration policies. Thousands of children separated from their parents under that policy reportedly still have yet to be reunited.

Noem, for her part, is a longtime Trump loyalist who has been a vocal proponent of immigration crackdowns, including her calls for so-called “sanctuary cities” that refused to cooperate on immigration during Trump’s first term to be punished.​​​​​​​