The Trump administration’s plan to use active-duty US military personnel to help with the mass deportation of undocumented migrants appears to be similar to the support role troops provided along the US-Mexico border in 2018 and 2019 , during the first Trump administration.

During his 2024 campaign, President-elect Donald Trump often referred to military personnel as part of his plans to assist with deportation, but how he would do so under existing legal authorities remained vague. On Monday, however, Trump confirmed that he plans to declare a national emergency to fulfill his campaign promise.

Additionally, Thomas Homan, Trump’s pick to serve as border czar, fleshed out his view on how US military assets would be a “force multiplier” in deportations, but stressed that they would fulfill “non-enforceable debts”. In other words, military personnel will not participate in the arrests.

“They’re going to be used to do non-applicable tasks like transportation, whether it’s ground or air, infrastructure, buildings, information,” Homan said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers performing these duties could be replaced by military personnel “because they don’t require immigration clearance,” Homan explained.

SEE ALSO: What Trump’s “border czar” said he plans to do starting on Day 1

He also described the military’s role as a “force multiplier to get more agents, put them on the streets where we need them,” and envisioned that the US military could assist in flights that take detainees back to the countries their origin.

“We’re hoping that DOD will help us with the air flights because there are a limited number of aircraft that ICE has contracts with; so DOD can certainly help with air flights around the globe,” he said.

Homan’s description was very similar to previous active duty deployments in 2018 and 2019 during Trump’s first term, which supported US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as migrant caravans from Central America and -they headed for the US border.

The mission was ordered in October 2018 and eventually saw the deployment of 6,100 active-duty forces to the border, which was soon followed by Trump’s declaration of a national emergency that allowed the US military to help build some portions of the border wall.

Pentagon officials have emphasized that the thousands of active-duty troops deployed to the border will serve only in a support role for federal law enforcement and will not perform law enforcement duties. This role was in accordance with the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the US military from performing domestic law enforcement duties.

SEE ALSO: How Democrats Plan to Fight Donald Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan

The active-duty troops joined the 2,350 National Guardsmen already assisting CBP in their home states of California, Texas and Arizona.

Initially, the active-duty troops’ mission was to build housing for additional CBP personnel heading into the region, provide medical support, transport CBP personnel around the border region, and construct 70 miles of obstacles and additional security barriers for the 22 ports of entry. . Military police units were deployed to provide security for military construction crews working along the border and were the only forces allowed to be armed during the deployment.

What was supposed to be a 45-day mission continued to be extended and continues to this day in a modified fashion and in much smaller numbers than in 2019.

After the objectives of the original mission were quickly met, the Pentagon approved a new request from the Department of Homeland Security to establish an unarmed rapid reaction force to help the CPB control riots should there be a migrant exodus in a port of entry.

In April 2019, the role of active-duty troops was expanded to allow them to assist in driving high-capacity CBP vehicles to transport migrants; provide administrative support, including providing heating, meal distribution, and monitoring the welfare of persons in CBP custody; and ICE lawyer support.

A month later, the Pentagon approved a DHS request to provide tent housing for up to 7,500 unaccompanied adult migrants at six locations along the border. The tents were to come from US military supplies and were to be erected by US military personnel. . Finally, DHS requested that active duty personnel install an additional 150 miles of concertina wire along the border area beyond the 70 miles of barriers that were placed during the first six weeks of the support mission at frontier.

Trump’s confirmation that he plans to declare a national emergency to allow mass deportation is a different reason than the national emergency he declared in 2019.

The 6,100 troops on active duty were deployed to the border under existing authorities. Instead, the national emergency that Trump declared in early 2019 was to make it possible for the US military to help build portions of the border wall that had been one of his major campaign promises.

The National Emergency Act allows the military to undertake new military construction projects not specified by Congress, but only if funds previously appropriated for such projects are used.

In the end, the Pentagon was able to use $6.1 billion in funding for the wall, including $3.6 billion in funds reallocated from other projects and an additional $2.5 billion in funding from counterterrorism efforts. narcotics.

Declaring a national emergency is not a rare event, and the National Emergencies Act has been invoked several times. At the time the border was declared, about 30 states of emergency were already in place by previous administrations.