White House Denies Considering 100,000 National Guard Troops For Immigration Raids

The Trump administration is not considering a proposal to activate as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to boost the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's raids on undocumented immigrants, dismissing a report from the Associated Press on such a plan.

The report is based on an 11-page draft memo by a staffer at the Department of Homeland Security, which was obtained by the AP. The plan would authorize National Guard involvement in efforts to step up deportations across the country, including from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The memo would allow governors of the states to choose whether to allow the National Guard to participate, the AP said.

A Homeland Security spokesman confirmed to Patch that the memo existed, and later the AP posted the document online. But almost as soon as the initial report was published, the White House denied the entire story. This is from the White House's senior assistant press secretary:

He was referring to this tweet:

Press Secretary Sean Spicer shortly followed up with his own denial:

These denials now appear too strong, though the DHS did contradict certain parts of the AP story.

David Lapan, from the Office of Public Affairs in the DHS, explained that, contrary to the AP's reporting, Secretary John Kelly did not draft the memo. Instead, it was drafted by an agency staffer as part of a process of figuring out how to implement the president's executive order titled "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States." The memo never reached the secretary's desk, but because of the way memos are drafted, it would have Kelly's name as the author, Lapan explained.

Asked about the AP's report that the memo was still being considered, Lapan said this referred to the fact that DHS is still considering different avenues for enforcing immigration policy; activation of the National Guard is not currently being considered.

"There is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants," Spicer told pool reporters. On the memo itself, he said, "It is not a White House document."

The AP's story was clear that the memo was from the DHS and not the White House. However, its initial headline indicated the proposal was considered by Trump himself, which does not appear to be the case. That headline was subsequently changed.

Spicer continued: "I don't know what could potentially be out there, but I know that there is no effort to do what is potentially suggested."

The AP notes that it reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the story but received no reply.

According to the pool report, Spicer told reporters after the story was published, "I wish you guys had asked before you tweeted."

An AP reporter responded that the news agency had asked for comment multiple times before the article went up.

Photo credit: Jacinta Quesada