In the Nov. 22 memo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen “respectfully request[s]” that the departments redirect “any available civilian law enforcement personnel … to the Southwest Border.” | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Immigration Exclusive: Homeland Security chief issues unusual plea for help against 'caravans' A DHS memo obtained by POLITICO asks several other Cabinet departments to send civilian police to the U.S.-Mexico border to stop migrant “caravans.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has requested the deployment of civilian law enforcement officers from several other Cabinet departments to the U.S.-Mexico border as early as next week, according to an internal memo obtained by POLITICO.

In what current and former U.S. officials said would be an unprecedented move, the officers — who in most cases have duties entirely unrelated to border security — would help Border Patrol agents repel what the memo calls “migrant caravans originating from Central America.”


The request suggests that personnel with such assignments as guarding diplomats, patrolling national parks, and protecting nuclear weapons might effectively “become Customs and Border Protection personnel,” as one former Justice Department official put it, with the power to arrest border-crossers.

Although the White House position on the request is unclear, such an action would be the latest extraordinary Trump administration effort to crack down on border security amid what President Donald Trump has increasingly cast as an immigration crisis. In particular, Trump has recently depicted a northbound migrant caravan as an attempted “invasion” of the U.S. But there is little evidence that existing border officials are unable to prevent members of the caravan, currently marooned in Mexico, from entering the country.

A senior DHS official who confirmed the memo’s authenticity said the Justice Department has already made a commitment to dispatch officers to the border, and that DHS is actively “working with” other departments named in the memo to determine the availability of law enforcement resources.

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The memo was sent to leaders of the departments of State, Labor, Energy, Transportation, Interior and Justice.

In recent months, Trump has ordered thousands of active duty military troops to the border. But they are prevented by a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act from participating in searches or making arrests. Civilians at the departments contacted by Nielsen would not face such a restriction.

“The administration seems to recognize that under Posse Comitatus … the military can’t do something enforcement-wise. So they’re saying, ‘Let’s grab as many law enforcement people and bring them to the border,’” said Leon Fresco, former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation under the Obama administration.

The move is part of what Trump and top White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller have told agency officials is an all-hands-on-deck effort to block members of the latest caravan from entering the country. In their view, allowing any asylum seekers from the caravan into the United States at this point would set a dangerous precedent and turn thousands-strong migrant caravans into the new normal for illegal immigration.

In the Nov. 22 memo, Nielsen “respectfully request[s]” that the departments redirect “any available civilian law enforcement personnel … to the Southwest Border” to be stationed at Customs and Border Protection field offices in California, Arizona and Texas.

Nearly every federal agency employs special agents who are fully authorized law enforcement officers and can enforce laws relevant to their agency, as well as any other federal law.

“Consistent with the President’s direction to do all within our authority to secure U.S. borders, I am seeking your assistance and ask you to prioritize efforts to help us prevent illegal entry into the United States,” Nielsen wrote.

The memo comes at a time when Nielsen is struggling to keep her job amid Trump’s longtime frustration at what he considers her inability to clamp down on southern border crossings.

White House chief of staff John Kelly was listed among the memo’s recipients, though it is unclear whether the request received approval from the White House counsel’s office, which has conducted dozens of meetings in recent weeks about how the White House is authorized to respond to the situation at the border.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Officers who end up being detailed to the southwest border would primarily help CBP “conduct its mission” in the field, according to the senior DHS official, rather than perform “mundane tasks” or assist with paperwork at ports of entry.

“They would use their existing law enforcement authorities to be able to assist us in the law enforcement,” the official said, declining to specify how many civilian law enforcement officials DHS has asked each agency to provide. Nielsen did not include a figure in her memo, but described the request as “part of a broader effort to make maximum use of Federal civilian law enforcement personnel,” including from her own agency.

It is not uncommon for federal employees to jump between agencies. Several White House officials, for example, were detailed to the State Department when Secretary Mike Pompeo took over. Others were temporarily placed at the Justice Department and other agencies, according to an administration official familiar with the practice.

The Customs and Border Protection Agency, however, rarely receives this sort of support. “CBP specifically getting detailees from other agencies is very uncommon,” Fresco said. “And for this particular mission, becoming immigrant enforcement agents is something I’ve never heard of.”

One former White House official described the move as an “extraordinary measure,” but one that is consistent with the Trump administration’s approach at the border.

So far, the Trump administration has unveiled new rules aimed at limiting migrant asylum claims (though the rules have been halted temporarily by a federal court); sought an agreement with Mexico’s incoming government that would require asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico until their claims can be heard in the U.S.; deployed more than 5,000 active-duty military to the border and authorized those troops to use lethal force, if necessary, to protect immigration officers.

“Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be,” the president wrote on Twitter Monday.

Critics accused Trump earlier this week of violating international human rights standards after border agents fired tear gas into a crowd of migrants, some of whom were children, when a peaceful march at the border deteriorated into chaos. Trump and Nielsen defended the decision, arguing that CBP agents were being accosted.

“First of all, the tear gas is a very minor form of the tear gas itself. It’s very safe,” Trump told reporters this week.

Depending on how many law enforcement officials are sent to the border to assist CBP, one DHS official said the removal of some troops might be expedited. As previously reported by POLITICO, all military personnel deployed to the border are expected to return home before Christmas, though the Pentagon later said that “no specific timeline for redeployment has been determined.”