A newly uncovered memo from the Division of Homeland Safety reportedly reveals that President Donald Trump is diverting manpower from securing U.S. borders and ports to assist him obtain his objectives of mass deportation.
HuffPost reported on Tuesday that the memo exhibits that roughly 2,000 officers and brokers have been diverted to offer extra manpower for deportation operations. By doing so, the administration makes it simpler for traffickers to smuggle illicit supplies, akin to fentanyl, by way of ports of entry.
Gil Kerlikowske, who headed up U.S. Customs and Border Safety beneath former President Barack Obama, informed the outlet, “The ports of entry―that’s where the fentanyl comes in.” He added, “If you’ve taken 800 agents off of the ports of entry, that can cause a significant problem.”
Knowledge from 2018 to 2024 confirmed that almost all of these apprehended for smuggling fentanyl into the U.S. did so by way of lawful ports of entry. About 4 in 5 apprehended smugglers by way of the U.S.-Mexico border have been U.S. residents as nicely. This stands in distinction to Republican leaders who’ve blamed this drawback on migrants.
A Trump supporter holds a “Secure our Border” at a rally in Aurora, Colorado. Surprise how this memo would make them really feel …
Trump repeatedly campaigned on the promise that he would crack down on fentanyl trafficking, however drug overdose deaths have been steadily falling since late 2023, when Joe Biden was president.
One other drawback with diverting assets from port operations is that these officers are typically not educated to deal with immigration enforcement. Companies like ICE have generated a torrent of headlines involving abuse and manhandling of each migrants and residents, together with kids—and plenty of of these incidents contain officers whose main job is enforcement.
The Trump administration has arrange a system ripe for abuse. It has used deportation procedures to ship migrants to amenities like El Salvador’s brutal CECOT jail. Detainees at these amenities have revealed scenes they in comparison with a “horror movie,” together with repeated beatings and denial of fundamental medical therapy.
The memo reportedly reveals one other dysfunctional hyperlink within the immigration system being put in place beneath the Trump administration, one which might simply result in extra crime and elevated hazard for People and their households.
