Trump signals use of military for deportations

President-elect Trump recirculated a social media post Monday suggesting his incoming administration will declare an immigration national emergency and use military assets to support his mass deportation pledge, labeling the claim “TRUE!!!”

On his Truth Social site, Trump at 4:03 a.m. EST reposted Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative organization that's been active both in courts and on social media regarding a number of culture war issues, including questioning the legitimacy of elections.

“GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program,” Fitton wrote.

Trump's single-word response appeared to confirm the report.

Immigration advocates are bracing for swift executive action on immigration from the incoming administration, but questions remain about the potential legal, logistical and budgetary limitations of plans to carry out mass deportations.

The Department of Defense, through the National Guard, has been actively supporting border security missions for years.

That support is generally limited to background logistics, including communications and transportation, freeing up more Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers to directly engage with migrants.

Trump and his inner circle have suggested greater military involvement in immigration enforcement both at the border and in the interior.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that allows the summary detention and removal of any foreign national above the age of 14 who hails from a country at war with the United States.

The United States has not formally declared war on any nation since 1942.

But Trump’s incoming administration is looking to kick off its deportation policy with massive media coverage.

“I don't think we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people being arrested. They were never able to get to that capacity in the first Trump administration on like, a single day or a single single week,” a top immigration advocate said on a background call with reporters Friday.

“But they're going to build up that capacity, and I would assume a kind of shock and awe attempt that they will do raids. They will try to make them high profile. They're going to try to spread fear because it appeals to their base, but also because it is part of their strategy, which is to get people to self-deport.”

Regardless of the scope, efforts to expand the detention and deportation system will face budgetary and logistical concerns, military involvement or not.

Some of Trump’s supporters see the potential for more transparency in how, when and where the administration carries out deportations, even as the program expands.

"I believe the president, I believe whoever is the attorney general, whoever is head of, if it's [Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi] Noem, head of Department of Homeland Security, and [incoming border czar] Tom Homan, will come together on a succinct not just reasoning, but a process to give people notice about what would happen,” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) told The Hill on Friday.

“I think it's important that you tell people what the plan is. As we recall, President Obama had a lot of deportations, and it created a wider viewpoint that that we were without a plan, rather than telling people," Sessions said. "And I think the president needs to and will say more than — or Tom Homan — more than, ‘mass deportations.’

"'Here's how we intend to follow through with this process.' A mandate? No, I don't think it's a mandate just to go round up people and haul them out. I think there is a need to effectively know what the plan would be and then follow the plan."