White House Repudiates Memorandum Calling for the Use of the National Guard to Round Up Unauthorized Migrants in the United States
Friday, February 15, 2017
 Secretary Kelly | The White House has quickly moved to repudiate a draft memorandum from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly that, among other things, calls for the use of the National Guard to help perform functions of immigration officers. The memorandum in question was dated January 25, 2017, and penned as a memo from Secretary Kelly to the persons who then were serving as the Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP,) Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy. It was intended to be a memorandum providing the Department with instructions on how to implement the interior immigration executive order that the President signed on the same day that the memo was dated. |
The language in the memo on the use of the National Guard is found on pages 3 and 4 of the 11 page-long missive In the operative passage, the Secretary states, "I am directing the Commissioner of CBP and the Director of ICE to immediately engage with the Governors of the States adjacent to the land border with Mexico and those States adjoining such border States for the purpose of entering into agreements under section 287(g) of the INA to authorize qualified members of the State National Guard, while such members are not in federal service, or qualified members of a state militia or state defense force under the command of the Governor, to perform the functions of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, and detention of aliens in the United States."
Just before that passage in the memorandum, the Secretary justifies the use of the National Guard, noting, "Pursuant to Title 32 of the United States Code, State National Guard components are employees of their respective states and are under the command of their Governors when they are not in federal service. Based on their training and experience, these men and women are particularly well-suited to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law and augment border security operations by Department components."
White House Repudiation. News of the existence of the memorandum was first reported by the Associated Press on Friday morning, February 17th. An hour later, when confronted with the allegation, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declared, "That is 100% not true. It is false. It is irresponsible to be saying this.” Continuing, he said, "There is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants.” He added, for emphasis,
Observers noted his use of the present tense in that last statement. And later in the day on Friday, the actual text of the memorandum emerged, making flat-out denials that such a plan had ever existed more difficult to pull-off.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Spicer said, “It is not a White House document.” Later, in the day, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the Secretary did not personally write the memo. that she did not know who did, and insisted that it was not penned at the Secretary's direction. She declared, however, that "this White House and this president has had no plans in any capacity to use the national guard to round up [undocumented aliens]”
Reaction in Congress. There was a chorus of expressions of disapproval of the idea of using the National Guard in the manner envisioned in the memorandum from congressional Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that the potential use of the National Guard in the way envisioned by the memorandum “despicable,” adding, ‘The fact that it might even be considered is appalling.’ Continuing, the Senator said, “That would be one of the most un-American things that would happen in the last century and I just hope that it’s not true. The fact that it might even be considered is appalling.”
Freshman Senator Kamela Harris (D-CA) called the idea deplorable and said, "“I challenge Republicans and Democrats, whether they are members of Congress or governors, to condemn this plan and ensure it never sees the light of day.” Another freshman, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV.), said, "Regardless of the White House's response, this document is an absolutely accurate description of the disturbing mindset that pervades the Trump administration when it comes to our nation's immigrants."
There was little reaction to the rumored plan to use the National Guard to enforce immigration law from the Republican side of the aisle. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he had not heard about the proposal when he was asked about it during his regularly scheduled press conference on Friday, February 17th. However, said he about the idea, "I'll take a look at anything they may choose in that regard.”
Other Ideas in the Memorandum. While most of the attention on the draft memorandum is focused on the idea of using the National Guard to enforce civil immigration law, that was only a tiny part of the memo. In all, the memorandum outlined 14 different interior immigration enforcement areas. This included the expanded use of expedited removal; hiring more border patrol agents; identifying and quantifying sources of direct and indirect U.S. aid to Mexico, presumably in an effort to force Mexico to pay for the border wall that the President has promised to build; expansion of the 287(g) program and use of state National Guard units in the border region; commissioning a comprehensive study on border security. It also included sections on border wall construction and funding; making it more difficult for asylum seekers to establish that they have a credible fear of persecution; allocation of resources and personnel to the Southern border for detention of aliens and adjudication of claims; limiting the use of humanitarian parole; reducing protections for unaccompanied alien children encountered at the border; prioritizing criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses committed at the border; and pubic reporting of border apprehension data.
While the January 25th draft memorandum has apparently been revised to no longer include the National Guard proposal, there was no word at the time of this writing how its contents might have changed or when it will be issued.
White House Repudiation. News of the existence of the memorandum was first reported by the Associated Press on Friday morning, February 17th. An hour later, when confronted with the allegation, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declared, "That is 100% not true. It is false. It is irresponsible to be saying this.” Continuing, he said, "There is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants.” He added, for emphasis,
Observers noted his use of the present tense in that last statement. And later in the day on Friday, the actual text of the memorandum emerged, making flat-out denials that such a plan had ever existed more difficult to pull-off.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Spicer said, “It is not a White House document.” Later, in the day, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the Secretary did not personally write the memo. that she did not know who did, and insisted that it was not penned at the Secretary's direction. She declared, however, that "this White House and this president has had no plans in any capacity to use the national guard to round up [undocumented aliens]”
Reaction in Congress. There was a chorus of expressions of disapproval of the idea of using the National Guard in the manner envisioned in the memorandum from congressional Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that the potential use of the National Guard in the way envisioned by the memorandum “despicable,” adding, ‘The fact that it might even be considered is appalling.’ Continuing, the Senator said, “That would be one of the most un-American things that would happen in the last century and I just hope that it’s not true. The fact that it might even be considered is appalling.”
Freshman Senator Kamela Harris (D-CA) called the idea deplorable and said, "“I challenge Republicans and Democrats, whether they are members of Congress or governors, to condemn this plan and ensure it never sees the light of day.” Another freshman, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV.), said, "Regardless of the White House's response, this document is an absolutely accurate description of the disturbing mindset that pervades the Trump administration when it comes to our nation's immigrants."
There was little reaction to the rumored plan to use the National Guard to enforce immigration law from the Republican side of the aisle. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he had not heard about the proposal when he was asked about it during his regularly scheduled press conference on Friday, February 17th. However, said he about the idea, "I'll take a look at anything they may choose in that regard.”
Other Ideas in the Memorandum. While most of the attention on the draft memorandum is focused on the idea of using the National Guard to enforce civil immigration law, that was only a tiny part of the memo. In all, the memorandum outlined 14 different interior immigration enforcement areas. This included the expanded use of expedited removal; hiring more border patrol agents; identifying and quantifying sources of direct and indirect U.S. aid to Mexico, presumably in an effort to force Mexico to pay for the border wall that the President has promised to build; expansion of the 287(g) program and use of state National Guard units in the border region; commissioning a comprehensive study on border security. It also included sections on border wall construction and funding; making it more difficult for asylum seekers to establish that they have a credible fear of persecution; allocation of resources and personnel to the Southern border for detention of aliens and adjudication of claims; limiting the use of humanitarian parole; reducing protections for unaccompanied alien children encountered at the border; prioritizing criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses committed at the border; and pubic reporting of border apprehension data.
While the January 25th draft memorandum has apparently been revised to no longer include the National Guard proposal, there was no word at the time of this writing how its contents might have changed or when it will be issued.
See Also: