by Lilliana Rodriguez
President Donald Trump issued the deployment of thousands of active duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border two days after his inauguration on Wednesday (01/22) as part of his campaign promise of sweeping deportations. In an internal Customs and Border Protection memo, the Trump administration is considering sending as many as 10,000 U.S. soldiers to the border in an attempt to “crack down” on immigration.
On his first day in office, Trump signed executive actions on immigration, beginning by declaring a national emergency at the Southern border, shutting down an app that allowed migrants to legally enter the U.S., and initiating the process to end birthright citizenship. The deployment of the military to the border marks not just the logistical operations for deportations and preventing entry but also facilitates the reactionary militarization of the border and spreading terror as Trump expands the powers across federal agencies to detain anyone they suspect to be an illegal immigrant.
One of the primary uses of the military will be to conduct migrant repatriation flights, beginning out of San Diego and El Paso. A statement from Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses read, “[T]he Department will provide military airlift to support DHS deportation flights of more than five thousand illegal aliens from the San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas, sectors detained by Customs and Border Protection.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X, “Thanks to President Trump: Yesterday, Mexico accepted a record 4 deportation flights in 1 day! This comes in addition to unrestricted returns at the land border, the deportation of non-Mexicans, & reinstatement of Remain-in-Mexico. Mexico has also mobilized 30K National Guard.”
Mass deportations and raids that focus on so-called “sanctuary cities”—a false liberal solution that promotes inaction rather than resistance to federal raids and does nothing to prevent them—across the U.S. are aimed at spreading terror among migrant sections of the working class. Major impacts have already been reported to work sites as migrant workers are faced with sudden ICE raids, forcing migrant workers who are already often hyper-exploited into worsening conditions.
Trump’s brute attacks on migrants are not exclusive to his administration. Former President Joe Biden superseded the number of deportations in comparison to Trump’s first term. These mass deportations are rooted in imperialist crisis and therefore continue regardless of the administration at the helm of the old-state, with the capitalist class using terror, restrictions, and deportations not only to control the supply of labor but also to heighten exploitation.
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