Pentagon Deploys Civilian Staff to Help DHS in Fight Against Illegal Immigration

The new Pentagon deployments are part of the Trump administration’s ‘whole-of-government’ strategy to secure the southern border and enforce immigration laws.

The Pentagon building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, in Washington in an undated aerial photo. U.S. Air Force/Getty Images

The Pentagon has announced that it will allow its civilian employees to assist Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel in operations related to border security and immigration enforcement, as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to deter unlawful border crossings and drug trafficking.

“Today the Secretary of Defense authorized the DoD Components to detail qualified Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees to support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) border security efforts as well as interior immigration enforcement,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, said in a June 2 statement. He added that the new assignments will support “critical” DHS operations.