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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally requested 20,000 National Guard troops to assist with the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.
If approved, the request would mark a significant escalation in the federal government’s use of military resources for immigration enforcement inside the United States — far beyond the already heightened presence at the southern border.
The Defense Department is currently reviewing the request, which would involve mobilizing National Guard personnel from various states to help carry out large-scale deportation operations across the country.
According to the officials, the troops would support law enforcement agencies with logistics and operations, particularly those tied to immigration raids and detentions in the U.S. interior. While the National Guard would not directly arrest or deport undocumented immigrants, their role would include transportation, facility management, surveillance, and infrastructure support.
This request is the latest in a series of unprecedented military deployments tied to the Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda. Currently, more than 8,600 federal troops are stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border, including members of the Army, National Guard, and federal contractors.
The military has recently designated two “National Defense Areas” — long, narrow corridors totaling approximately 230 miles across New Mexico and Texas — as extensions of federal military installations. These zones are under heightened security and surveillance, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declaring during a visit in April that “any illegal attempting to enter this zone is entering a military base, a federally protected area.”
“Migrants crossing this zone will be detained by both Customs and Border Protection and the Defense Department,” Hegseth said.
In a rare move, the Navy has also increased its border support, with Adm. James Kilby, the acting chief of naval operations, informing Congress this week that the Navy is contributing intelligence-gathering flights using P-8 surveillance aircraft, as well as deploying two Navy destroyers and a littoral combat ship to assist in maritime and border monitoring efforts.
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at DHS, confirmed the request in a statement:
“The Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to get criminal illegal aliens, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and other violent criminals, out of our country,” she said.
Critics argue the move represents a dangerous militarization of immigration enforcement and raises legal and ethical concerns about the use of troops for domestic law enforcement. Civil liberties groups have warned that involving the military so deeply in immigration could violate long-standing legal limits, including the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of federal troops for domestic policing.
If authorized, the deployment of 20,000 National Guard members would dwarf previous military-assisted immigration efforts and could become a central point of contention in an already polarized political debate over immigration policy heading into the next election cycle.
