In an opinion published by The Hill, Brigadier General Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D., member of CERL’s Executive Board, and Harold S. Kudler, M.D., warn against using the military to support President-elect Donald Trump’s large-scale deportation plan. Ordering service members to detain millions of immigrants in makeshift encampments without adequate training, leadership, and experience in the field could put service members at risk of sustaining moral injuries, adversely affect troop readiness, and threaten the safety and dignity of those detained.

Brig. Gen. Xenakis is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist with many years of clinical, academic, and management experience. He is the Executive Director of APPA, an advisor for Physicians for Human Rights and the Center for Victims of Torture, and an Adjust Professor at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is also a member of the CERL Executive Board. Read his bio here.

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