DHS requests 20,000 National Guard members to help with immigration enforcement

The request, which is under review by the Pentagon, is part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to ramp up arrests of undocumented migrants

The Department of Homeland Security has requested 20,000 National Guard members to help with immigration enforcement across the US, a department spokesperson told CNN on Friday. “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. The safety of American citizens comes first,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. The request, which is under review by the Pentagon, is part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to ramp up arrests of undocumented migrants and fulfill President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign promise, sources told CNN this week. The effort will include tapping Border Patrol agents to fan out nationwide and comes as the Justice Department has begun intensifying its crackdown on immigration-related crime in cities across the country. Trump officials have been frustrated with the slower pace of interior arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country, CNN has reported, and there have been some tense calls about it between the White House and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, multiple sources said. But interior arrests often require significant manpower and resources — more than are needed when detaining migrants as they cross the border, which is why the administration is now trying to recruit additional personnel, including thousands of extra Guardsmen, for the task.