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Trump’s Evergrowing Deportation Network

The Trump administration’s war on immigration and immigrants is escalating and expanding. Just this morning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, alleging that she helped an undocumented person “evade arrest” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the courthouse. Within hours, protesters had gathered outside Milwaukee’s federal courthouse.

And earlier this week, U.S. Northern Command announced that military troops “‘have been delegated the authority’ to conduct security support operations in the New Mexico National Defense Area.”

Meanwhile, as the administration attempts to defend its lawless banishment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, it is widening ICE’s net, which has already ensnared people with secretly revoked visas, people without criminal history, people who were mistaken for someone else, and even U.S. citizens.

This edition of our newsletter explores the skyrocketing number of local law enforcement agencies combining forces with ICE, the administration’s threatened invocation of the Insurrection Act to supercharge its efforts at the southern border, and the massive profits some will gain through Trump’s expansion of “immigration enforcement.”

Trump’s Expanding Deportation Network

Since President Trump began to implement his draconian deportation agenda, the number of officers empowered with the authority to enforce immigration laws is only growing, with multiple states strongly encouraging local law enforcement agencies, especially local sheriffs, to enter into agreements to become part of ICE’s 287(g) program. Since President Trump took office, the number of partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities has tripled.

Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 allows local law enforcement agencies to enter into an agreement with the federal government  to deputize its officers to enforce federal immigration law, including identifying, detaining, and processing individuals for deportation, effectively extending the reach of federal immigration law. Since President Trump’s inauguration, many law enforcement agencies across the country have entered into these agreements.

Though many agencies have voluntarily joined the program in the past, officials in some states are now moving to force all local law enforcement agencies to enter into these agreements. The number of law enforcement agencies with 287(g) agreements is nearing 500, up from around 75 in 2010. This week, the Department of Homeland Security partnered with law enforcement agencies across Florida to launch “Operation Tidal Wave,” the first coordinated immigration enforcement exercise with state police since President Trump took office this January. In Florida, as in other states, state government officials have urged local law enforcement agencies to become official partners in Trump’s deportation agenda:

The partnerships between local law enforcement and immigration authorities are already being felt in communities across the country. In upstate New York, after the Oswego County Sheriff’s Department entered into a 287(g) agreement with the federal government, deputies have reportedly committed a litany of misconduct, including:

  • “stopping Hispanic drivers for minor, unprovable traffic violations like veering left of center, then handing them over to Border Patrol agents who are sometimes already at the scene”;
  • staking out homes and following workers to restaurants; and
  • sending undercover officers in plainclothes and ski masks to dairy farms.

To determine which local law enforcement agencies near you have entered into a 287(g) agreement with the federal government, check out the Markup’s database of local law enforcement agencies with 287(g) partnerships.

Trump’s Threat to Invoke the Insurrection Act

On the day he took office, Trump issued an executive order directing both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue a joint report about conditions at the southern border and make recommendations about “additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control.” The order noted that the report should include potential invocation of the Insurrection Act. He gave the secretaries 90 days to submit the report.

  • The Insurrection Act would fundamentally change the military’s role at the border. The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to deploy military personnel against American citizens and residents to enforce domestic law. The Act predates the U.S. modern police force. Trump threatened to invoke it during his first term, most notably during the racial injustice protests in 2020, proclaiming: “If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
  • Presidents are generally prohibited from using the military as domestic law enforcement. The Posse Comitatus Act, passed in 1878, prevents federal military personnel from engaging in civilian law enforcement. Past presidents—including Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush—have sent federal troops to the border to support Border Patrol operations, but their role was constrained by that law.
  • Invoking the Insurrection Act would be an alarming escalation in federal force against U.S. citizens and residents. Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, explained to NPR in 2024 that “an army turned inward can very quickly become an instrument of tyranny.”

Deadline Passed: On April 20th, the president’s deadline passed without the issuance of a report or recommendations. The Pentagon stated the report will be released later in the week, and news coverage indicated that it will not conclude that the Insurrection Act is necessary for border control. (This does not mean the Act cannot be invoked later.)

The factual basis for invoking the Act is quite weak. Crossings have dramatically dropped this year, averaging less than 300 a day—a quarter-century low. It would be hard for the administration to truthfully argue that the current state of the southern border represents a “breakdown or obstruction of federal law that would necessitate the use of the Insurrection Act the way the law was intended.”

The Corporations Aiming to Profit from Trump’s Deportation Machine

The Trump administration will spend unprecedented amounts of money to run its deportation machine. Plenty of people will profit considerably by being part of it.

Before Trump even took office, stocks for CoreCivic and GEO Group jumped. Both companies have long played a role in immigration detention and lauded Trump’s intentions to detain and deport “millions” of people. CoreCivic’s CEO called it “one of the most exciting periods of [his] career.”

In April of this year, stocks rose again as the Trump administration announced plans to build more detention centers in the U.S. and further expand enforcement efforts. Investing.com reports that “[t]he swift rise in stock prices reflects investor anticipation of the potential for increased revenue streams.” (To be clear, the “revenue streams” are people the administration detains and deports, possibly to El Salvador’s mega-prison.) News reports also recently revealed that Erik Prince, former Blackwater CEO, is pitching Trump officials on a plan to build U.S.-controlled prisons in El Salvador. Prince previously proposed a $25 billion plan utilizing private agents to remove 12 million people from the U.S., but the White House rejected it.

As Deportation Machine Grows, So Does Resistance to It

First, the good news: Americans don’t like these actions. Four recent polls showed that public support for the Trump administration’s handling of immigration has completely tanked, with more people disapproving than approving in all four polls. Look for disapproval of these policies to continue to grow as the administration continues its unpopular deportation agenda.

Not only is Trump’s actual immigration apparatus unpopular, but people are finding a variety of ways to resist it. Other positive developments in resistance to Trump administration immigration policies include:

  • Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen: After the government abducted Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia and sent him to the now infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador, Senator Van Hollen traveled there to check on Mr. Garcia’s welfare. Despite great resistance from El Salvador’s government, the senator ultimately prevailed and met with Garcia.
  • Representatives Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida, and Robert Garcia of California traveled to El Salvador to meet with Mr. Garcia and others held at CECOT prison following Senator Van Hollen’s visit.
  • Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the Fourth Circuit: Judge Wilkinson authored an opinion rebuking the Trump administration’s handling of the Garcia case, at one point stating: “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.”
  • The United States Supreme Court: In a 7-2 ruling, the court ordered the Trump administration to stop the rendition of immigrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act pending further review of the administration’s policy.