Trump administration officials are contemplating employing 10,000 soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border and leveraging Department of Defence bases to hold migrants anticipating deportation as they plan their dramatic regulations on illegal immigration, according to an internal government memo.
In an executive order President Trump signed upon assuming office on Monday, he announced a national emergency along the southern border and ordered the Defence Department to provide troops and resources “to support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security in obtaining complete operational control” of the border. He also directed the military to help build border barriers to ward off the migrants.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president had signed another executive order to deploy 1,500 troops to the southern border, where 2,500 soldiers are already on standby under federal orders. Texas and other states have also employed National Guard soldiers to the border in recent years, including to fortify it with razor wire.
But the internal Customs and Border Protection memo dated January 21 hinted there’s a plan to dispatch “10,000 soldiers” to help the agency’s operation at the southern border. The Trump administration, according to the document, has submitted an “unrestrained request” for the Pentagon to increase resources and personnel to aid CBP with technology and infrastructure.
The memo also says the Defence Department “may” convert its bases into “holding facilities” to help CBP confine migrants who crossed into the U.S. unlawfully.
The memo also indicated that the Trump administration is planning to expand the detention limit at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is expected to be at the centre of Trump’s promises of mass deportations.
As the document stated, ICE officials want 14 new detention facilities with the space to detain 1,000 migrants each and another four able to hold as many as 10,000 detainees each.
A senior U.S. military official told reporters that the 1,500-troop deployment would include dispatching 1,000 Army personnel and 500 Marines, as well as helicopters, to the California and Texas border. The official said the troops would not be involved in law enforcement, as federal law generally prohibits the use of the military for civilian law enforcement. Instead, the official said they would be tasked with assisting CBP and creating border barriers to restrict illegal crossings.
The Department of Defence also declared it would “provide military airlift to support” deportation flights for more than 5,000 migrants arrested along the U.S.-Mexico border by CBP. Officials said the Department of Homeland Security would offer in-flight law enforcement.
Trump’s plans to greatly widen the role of the U.S. military in border enforcement, which was historically limited to operational and administrative duties, are part of a larger campaign to seal U.S. borders to migrants and refugees.
The Trump administration has also ordered U.S. immigration agents along the borders with Mexico and Canada to swiftly and summarily deport migrants crossing into the country illegally, denying them the possibility to request asylum, as per the CBP officials and internal documents.
Those instructions are being enforced in accordance with an unprecedented order issued by Trump that suspended the entry of illegal migrants into the country, based on the debate that they are “invading” the U.S. and threatening public health and national security.
Trump said he was allowed to take the major steps through powers in the U.S. Constitution and a law known as 212(f) that encourages presidents to restrict the entry of foreigners whose arrival is deemed to be “detrimental” to U.S. interests.
While Trump made immigration a top issue in the campaign, his administration inherited a relatively calm southern border, with illegal crossings there at a four-year low. Illegal migration into the U.S. increased in 2024 from the record highs in the previous three years due to a Mexican increase in migrants. They fell further after the Biden administration enforced restrictions on asylum last June.
