May 10, 2023 - In Title 10 status, the Guard serves ... Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force. The president is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the United States in all circumstances, even domestic border support....

January 27, 2025 - Donald Trump has threatened to use military and wartime powers in immigration enforcement. This FAQ explains the Posse Comitatus Act, the Insurrection Act, and the Alien Enemies Act.

The President may be able to deploy soldiers domestically. But the law still sets real limits what he can do with them.

February 26, 2025 - As America enters a presidential election year, the crisis at our southern border is an issue that c...

2 weeks ago - The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United ...

March 25, 2024 - The use of the U.S. military to secure the border is entirely within both the statutory and constitutional powers of the President. By passing the PCA, some assert that Congress has prohibited widespread use of the military by the President, even if there is just a mere law enforcement nexus.

The law generally prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force.

The law, signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878, prohibits direct involvement by federal troops in law enforcement. But it can be trumped by the Insurrection Act.

The doctrine, conceived by the executive branch and endorsed by the courts, holds that an action taken primarily to further a military purpose does not violate the Posse Comitatus Act even if it provides an incidental benefit to civilian law enforcement. A textbook example is the circumstance ...

2 days ago - Annexed militarized zones on public land will soon cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico, empowering soldiers to arrest people who cross the border illegally and facilitating new criminal trespassing charges

August 17, 2022 - Migrants arriving at the border will now see a sizable U.S. military presence — more than double the 2,000 who are in Syria fighting the Islamic State group — even though their mission will be largely a support role.

September 10, 2024 - A central hallmark of American democracy is that, with tightly limited exceptions, the U.S. military is not used here at home. Autocrats often deploy military force to quash dissent, target vulnerable communities, and corrupt elections. Such outbreaks can offer political cover for restrictions ...

The law, which lets the president deploy the military domestically and use it for civilian law enforcement, is dangerously vague and in urgent need of reform.

3 weeks ago - The standard to dispatch the military to a state is not simply in the eye of the beholder. There are limited legal circumstances in which a president is supposed to deploy the military domestically.

February 20, 2025 - The Trump team seems to be repeating the same mistakes and may actually end up harming national security rather than helping it.

Border militarization stigmatizes migrants and asylum seekers and undermines core democratic values.

1 month ago - The Trump administration has expanded military bases near the border in order to deploy troops to detain migrants.

Different training rules, operational risks, and past experience caution restraint.

Presidents have extensive power to deploy the military to assist with immigration enforcement, even without a declaration of national emergency.