In a new agreement between Texas and the Trump administration, Texas National Guard soldiers can now arrest, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants, provided they are supervised—remotely or in person—by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official. This is a departure from the Texas National Guard’s previous support role at the border and could be subject to lawsuits. 

Geoffrey Corn, member of CERL’s Advisory Council, is quoted in an article for The Texas Tribune discussing the shift from using the National Guard as back-up law enforcement to deputizing soldiers to take part in removing migrants from the country. 

Geoffrey S. Corn is the George R. Killam, Jr. Chair of Criminal Law and Director of the Center for Military Law and Policy, Texas Tech University School of Law and a Distinguished Fellow with the Gemunder Center for Defense Strategy (part of the Jewish Institute for National Security in America). A retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate Officer, he served as the Army’s senior law of war advisor. He is also a member of the CERL Advisory Council. Read his bio here. 

The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of any organization or university.