Trump plan to use troops to round up illegal immigrants
THE Trump administration has considered deploying 100,000 National Guard troops to round up illegal immigrants.
A leaked draft memo shows a proposal to send soldiers into 11 states in an unprecedented militarisation of immigration enforcement.
Such a proposal would fulfil Donald Trump’s promise to deploy a “deportation force” in the US.
The report came after a string of high-profile raids that snared 700 undocumented migrants.
The memo said participating troops would be authorised “to perform the functions of an immigration officer”.
The 11 states targeted for raids stretch as far north as Oregon and as far east as Louisiana, according to the document, written by US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
After the memo was posted on Twitter, a Department of Homeland Security official said it was a “very early draft” that was “never seriously considered”.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer then said it was “100 per cent false” that the programme was being rolled out. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, said the draft order was “despicable”. He added that it would be “one of the most un-American things” to happen for 100 years.
Mr Trump has already brought in a travel ban for refugees and those from seven Muslim-majority countries. It was then suspended by a federal court judge.
The National Guard has been deployed under controversial circumstances. In 1957 President Eisenhower used it to enforce desegregation of a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.