Hawaii National Guardsmen have been deployed to the mainland since October in support of operations along the southern border
The Hawaii National Guard confirmed to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that 30 Hawaii guardsmen, members of a Hilo-based helicopter unit, are deployed to California as part of Task Force Sentinel, a military operation providing air support to the U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies. They’re slated to return to Hawaii sometime after the summer.
The deployment was originally in support of efforts by the administration of President Joe Biden to crack down on illegal border crossings. But under President Donald Trump, the new administration has surged military deployments to the border of guardsmen and active duty troops.
Meanwhile, Trump also has tasked the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to aggressively step up efforts to detain and deport millions of immigrants across the country, sometimes with military support.
The guardsmen are deployed as members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation have expressed increasing concern about the use of military resources to support Trump’s immigration and border policies. They charge that it potentially blurs lines between military and law enforcement missions while diverting resources away from Hawaii and the Pacific at a time when military leaders say China is their “pacing threat.”
“Our Hawaii National Guardsmen and women belong here in Hawaii, this is where they belong, we have more than enough need,” said U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda. “Our guardsmen and women are the ones on the front line should any disasters happen … (and) we’re at the very beginning of hurricane season and a very hot and dry summer.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Green activated Hawaii National Guard air crews to provide firefighting support to county and state officials as fires flared up in West Oahu and South Maui, including a deadly weekend blaze in Maili that killed 94-year-old Maria Pascual.
In a statement to the Star-Advertiser, Green’s office said that Hawaii National Guard leadership has kept him updated on their soldiers’ various missions, but did not specifically address the border mission or the deployment of aviation troops there.
“There is a long history of limited Guard deployments to the border to assist with specific demand periods and civilian enforcement shortages,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Case. “If they are properly authorized under existing law and otherwise available, I support such limited deployments as both necessary as well as excellent training for the Guard. If they are not for specific shortage and supplementation situations but for long-term replacement of functions that should be performed by civilian enforcement, or if they are required elsewhere for direct defense needs, I don’t support that use.”
In addition to thousands of troops deployed to the border since Trump returned to office, troops have been taking on a variety of other new tasks.
This month, U.S. Northern Command announced the deployment of active duty Marines to ICE facilities in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. The command stressed that the troops will not actively participate law enforcement activities and insisted they will be restricted to behind-the-scenes support roles, freeing up ICE personnel to concentrate on raids and deportations.
“Donald Trump’s mass deportation obsession is making our communities less safe by diverting military resources to power his war on immigrants,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono. “From expanding the military’s involvement in domestic law enforcement at the southern border to calling up the National Guard in Los Angeles against the wishes of local leaders, this regime is putting Trump’s political agenda above our national security, the readiness of our troops, and the safety of our communities.”
Border insecurity
Case, who has made several visits to the border with other members of Congress, said that “an insecure southern border affects each state differently. In Hawaii, the best estimate is that we have some 40,000 illegal immigrants, and although details are difficult, it must be assumed that many crossed over the southern border.”
Among Case’s concerns is the flow of drugs into Hawaii.
Federal and state law enforcement say top drugs coming into Hawaii are methamphetamines, fentanyl and cocaine — trades dominated by Latin American drug cartels. Criminal groups and syndicates have in some cases also sought to exert control over routes used by migrants, extorting fees from migrants or taxing smugglers known along the border as “coyotes” that help them cross.
“Nearly all methamphetamine originates with Mexican cartels and is smuggled over the southern border, from which it enters Hawaii by commercial parcel systems, passenger airlines and (by sea),” said Case. “In short, Hawaii is directly affected by an insecure southern border.”
In March 2020, federal agents in Hawaii arrested Edmund Ferreira III as part of Project Python, a nationwide sting targeting the operations of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Federal authorities said that Ferreira was involved in transporting fentanyl and meth into Hawaii from San Diego as part of the cartel’s international network.
Last year authorities arrested Juan Carlos Espinoza Lopez, a Mexican national who had been deported four times previously, on Hawaii island with meth, heroine and a loaded AR-15 rifle in his possession. In April Hawaii’s federal district court sentenced Lopez to 12 years after he ultimately pleaded guilty guilty to possession of meth and heroin with intent to distribute, being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition and illegal reentry into the country.
But while Case said he supports beefing up security on the border, he said he has concerns about the increasing military involvement.
While military personnel aren’t supposed to engage in domestic law enforcement missions, they have the authority to detain people entering bases and military operating areas — which the administration has used to authorize troops on the border to detain people.
“The president is attempting an end-around the rule against military law enforcement inside our country by expanding military bases along the border,” said Case. “I do not support this effort as I believe it … sets a dangerous precedent on military base presence throughout our country, diverts the military from its core mission of national defense and deterring our adversaries, stretches the already stretched defense budget, and should instead be addressed by boosting civilian border enforcement as needed.”
Tokuda said she supports immigration reform and preventing drugs — especially fentanyl — from making their way into Hawaii, but argued “that is not what they are doing.”
Most fentanyl is believed to come into the country through legal ports of entry, while cocaine is often moved in boats making their way through the Eastern Pacific or the Caribbean, frequently with the active participation of American citizens. Tokuda said “the majority of fentanyl coming into our country is not on the backs of migrants crawling through the water and smuggling themselves over the borders undetected.”
Tokuda argued that the high tempo of ICE raids is pushing authorities to make try to quotas and target nonviolent immigrants with no ties to criminal groups, taking away resources from efforts to investigate and track down highly organized networks and career criminals who have learned to evade authorities.
“This is not about fentanyl,” said Tokuda. “This is just about getting a number, a quota, in terms of how many people they want to deport using ICE and using our military personnel. They should be focused on fentanyl, but this is not what they are doing right now that we see in every state in this country.”
Shifting resources
In May the Pentagon informed Congress it was shifting $1 billion meant for maintaining and renovating Army barracks to support its surge of troops to the southern border. That includes Schofield Barracks, where commanders have for years begged for funding to address aging facilities.
“As China continues to expand its presence in the Pacific, we should be squarely focused on ensuring the readiness of our troops, facilities, and infrastructure in the (Pacific area of operations),” said Hirono. “By diverting funds and personnel to immigration enforcement activities, Trump is doing the opposite — depleting military resources to go after largely non-violent immigrants with no criminal background.”
The latest draft of the annual National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision secured by Hirono’s office requiring the Pentagon notify and provide details to Congress when it uses military aircraft to support Department of Homeland Security missions, including deportation operations. Hirono said “this provision will allow Congress to better understand the impacts to military readiness of Donald Trump’s immigration obsession.”
Last week federal officials confirmed that ICE agents have been operating at Marine Corps Base Hawaii as part of a pilot program to target foreign nationals that may be making their way onto military facilities. The program began in May, and the first arrest to come out of the pilot program was a Russian national detained on June 12 after she apparently tried to access MCBH at the main entrance.
But some military families, which in some cases include immigrant troops and spouses, have quietly expressed unease. In April, the wife of an active duty Coast Guardsman was arrested by federal authorities inside the family residential section of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Key West, Fla., over an expired visa as the couple was preparing to move into on-base housing.
“Right now, any adversary looking into our country sees us turning in on ourselves, that’s what they’ll see,” said Tokuda. “This puts us in a very weak position globally. It sends the wrong message to our allies, and it definitely sends a weakened message to our adversaries to be having so much resources, manpower and dollars be redirected toward a nebulous goal or mission set in terms of supporting ICE.”
The latest federal budget for the new fiscal year would allocate a historic $175 billion for deportation operations — which surpasses the entire military budget of all countries besides the United States and China. It would surpass Russia’s current wartime military budget by nearly $30 billion.
Source: The Garden Island