An internal Department of Homeland Security memo from last month proposed calling up as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up undocumented immigrants in 11 states, including in Louisiana, an agency official tells USA Today.
But DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen says the memo, dated Jan. 25, was an early draft document that was not seriously considered.
“The department is not considering mobilizing the National Guard,” Christensen says in a statement to USA Today.
The memo was first reported today by The Associated Press, which drew an angry response from the White House. Press secretary Sean Spicer says the AP report was “100% not true.”
“It is false,” Spicer says. “It is irresponsible to be saying this.”
Nevertheless, the draft memo by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says troops in 11 states could be mobilized, including those bordering Mexico, but also as far north as Oregon. They would be authorized “to perform the functions of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension and detention of aliens in the United States.”
The memo specified that President Donald Trump “has determined that the lawful detention of arriving aliens pending a determination of their inadmissability and eligibility for immigration relief has a significant deterrent effect on illegal immigration.”
The memo was written on the same day Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to “employ all lawful means to ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens.” It is addressed to the then-heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The memo was meant to implement the Jan. 25 executive order, and “implements new policy designed to deter illegal immigration and facilitate the detection, apprehension, detention, and removal of aliens who have no lawful authority to enter or remain in the United States.”
But today, Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One that “there is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants.”
He says it is “not a White House document,” but he could not rule out whether it has been under discussion elsewhere in the administration.
“I don’t know what could potentially be out there, but I know that there is no effort to do what is potentially suggested,” he says.
