The Trump administration plans to pull some U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers away from the country’s ports of entry to enlist them in inland immigration raids, according to a memo obtained by HuffPost.
An agency official said they are looking for “high-performing” officers to volunteer for a six-month detail assisting the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department in what he called “Operation At-Large.” The assignment would start May 21.
“This operation is a high priority of the administration and will focus on the arrests of illegal aliens with executable final orders of removal,” Christopher R. Holtzer, executive director of operations at CBP’s Office of field operations, wrote in the memo dated Wednesday.
CBP officers are not normally tasked with trying to hunt down undocumented immigrants in the nation’s interior. Instead, they’re responsible for protecting ports of entry along the northern and southern borders and the coasts from terrorism, human trafficking and drug smuggling.
But the Trump administration has made a huge political priority out of boosting arrests of people in the country without authorization. Trump campaigned on a promise to carry out mass deportations and has even tried to invoke wartime powers to justify expelling people with or without due process.
The CBP memo suggests the agency is having to pull staffing from other pockets of the homeland security apparatus to hit its desired numbers — even as Trump complains of fentanyl and other drugs coming in through ports and over borders, using the issue to justify his tariff war with other countries.
CBP did not immediately respond to questions about the operation from HuffPost on Friday.
Holtzer’s memo did not specify how many officers would be pulled away from their normal duties. But a CBP employee told HuffPost the agency plans to enlist at least 150 officers, while the U.S. Border Patrol, which safeguards the borders between ports of entry, would enlist at least 150 of its own. Both CBP and the Border Patrol are part of DHS.
The U.S. government had around 25,000 Customs and Border Protection officers and 19,000 Border Patrol agents as of 2022.
Such a shift in manpower might seem small, but it could squeeze staffing at certain ports of entry, possibly affecting the windows in which they’re open to process travelers, the employee said. It could also divert Border Patrol agents from trying to catch illegal crossings and drug-smuggling efforts.
“All for an arbitrary and politically generated set of deportation quotas,” the employee added.
The employee said the agency plans to draft officers for the detail if not enough raise their hands.
Such an assignment could appeal to officers looking to pick up more overtime hours, or those who are enthusiastic about the president’s deportation agenda. Holtzer said those who sign on should expect “irregular shifts” on short notice, as well as working holidays and weekends.
“Operations are expected to be in plain clothes, with appropriate body armor,” he added. “Domestic travel may be needed for some assignments.”