President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed rumors amongst conservatives that he will leverage the US military to counter illegal immigration as well as illegal drug and human trafficking networks.
President Trump has heavily campaigned on combating illegal immigration and has pledged to execute one of the nation’s largest deportation programs.
Now, Trump has claimed he will rely on the military to help him execute his ambitious immigration policies.
However, the idea of using the military to assist in the enforcing of immigration laws is not a novel one, as conservative lawmakers have previously floated the idea.
For example, Florida Representative Mike Waltz (R) and Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw (R) filed a bill to authorize the use of military force against Mexican cartels.
The Republicans penned legislation that would provide the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Mexican cartels. According to a press release from Representative Waltz, the legislation would allow the use “against Mexican cartels for trafficking lethal fentanyl and other related activities that have caused destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.
Waltz, who has been nominated as Trump’s national security advisor, could use his executive position to facilitate the military’s immigration enforcement role.
Additionally, Waltz sponsored another bill, the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Water Act, to secure the U.S. coastal borders, including Florida's, from drug and human trafficking through military force.
The bill would double the U.S. coastline authorized for Coastal and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP AMO) and the U.S. Coast Guard to intercept migrants and drug smugglers from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles.
"We cannot leave Florida's coastline wide-open like the Biden administration has our southern border," said Waltz. "We must protect Floridians and all Americans by securing our country's coastal borders, especially as the situation in Haiti worsens."
At the state level, conservative governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis have similarly supported military support of immigration enforcement.
Governor DeSantis previously told The Floridian he would go after drug cartels using the US military, and would resume the construction of the Trump border security wall President Joe Biden put a stop to when he took office in 2019.
