President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to use the US military to help deport millions of illegal migrants, a plan that breaks US tradition against deploying troops in the country but which legal experts said however, it will be difficult to challenge successfully in court, reports "Reuters".
Trump advisers have said they intend to use the military to build detention camps or transport undocumented migrants out of the US, freeing up border patrol and immigration agents to investigate and make arrests.
Experts say the administration will have legal cover if the military is limited to supporting roles, particularly along the Mexican border, without interacting with suspects.
"I think he probably won't face many challenges," said Ryan Burke, a professor of military and strategic studies at the US Air Force Academy, speaking in a personal capacity.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. prohibits the federal military from participating in local law enforcement. Congress created exceptions that allowed presidents to successfully use active-duty military personnel in support roles for things like combating the illegal drug trade and during law and order violations.
Trump has not explained how he plans to deploy the military to deport migrants. In a post last week on Truth Social, he responded "TRUE!!" to another user's post saying his new administration will use "military means" in an attempted mass deportation.
"President Trump will direct all federal and state authorities necessary to begin the largest operation to deport illegal criminals, drug dealers and human traffickers in American history," Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt said in statement on Monday.
Every president since Bill Clinton in the 1990s has sent the National Guard or active duty soldiers to the border in support roles ranging from surveillance to training and equipment repair.
Experts said support role exemptions from the Posse Comitatus Act could also allow the military to build huge camps to hold those slated for removal. Stephen Miller, Trump's immigration adviser, presented this proposal to the New York Times in November 2023.
Deporting a million undocumented migrants a year would require the government to increase its detention capacity 20-fold, according to a report by the American Immigration Council, an immigrant advocacy group.
Michel Paradis, a former Defense Department lawyer, said the more the military is asked to do, the more opportunities there are for legal challenges, even against a supporting role. He said using the military to build a detention camp could give a governor grounds to sue if funds for the camp were diverted from a project in that governor's state.