1,700 National Guard troops to assist ICE in 19 states, including Arkansas

(NewsNation) — White House border czar Tom Homan offered details Saturday about the Trump administration’s plans to deploy 1,700 National Guard members across 19 states, including Arkansas, to assist federal immigration officers.

The troops will be a “force multiplier” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and help with duties that include transportation and intelligence, but not arrests, Homan tells NewsNation correspondent Libbey Dean.

“ICE is overwhelmed. ICE has less than 5,000 deportation officers. We’ve got well over 20 million illegal aliens,” Homan said. “We’ve got almost 700,000 illegal aliens with criminal history that we’re trying to find.”

Guard will allow ICE to focus on arrests: Homan

Leveraging National Guard manpower, Homan said, will allow ICE officers to focus on finding potentially dangerous migrants for eventual deportation from the U.S.

The plan to deploy National Guard troops was announced earlier by the Pentagon. The mission is expected to last at least through mid-November.

The troops will deploy to Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming, according to a Defense Department official who spoke to NewsNation.

The National Guard assistance in support of ICE is different from the recent deployment of troops to Washington, D.C., which the Trump administration is doing after the president complained about conditions and crime within the nation’s capital.

“This is a separate mission from the D.C. support mission. Additional questions on personnel support to ICE should be directed to the individual states supporting the mission,” the Pentagon spokesperson said.

Governors in multiple Republican-led states have supported President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in D.C.