THE ROLE OF THE US ARMED FORCES IN DETERRING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DURING THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (2017–2021)

Abstract

The article reveals the specifics of the involvement of the US National Guard and the US AF performing the tasks of the US southern border security during the presidency of Donald Trump. The author analyzes the reasons for the involvement of military units, the scope of their tasks, and describes the specific tasks performed by military personnel in cooperation with the US Customs and Border Protection. Changes in the nature of the use of army units during the operations «Guardian Support» and «Faithfull Patriot» in 2018 and after the declaration of a state of emergency on the border with Mexico in 2019 are revealed. The main problems encountered by the U.S. Department of Defense in its operations at the border, in the context of fierce domestic political opposition to Donald Trump’s immigration policy, were separately examined. It is argued that the involvement of the US AF in solving migration problems on the U.S. southern border had both potential benefits and risks. On the one hand, support in the areas of intelligence, transportation, and logistics has become an important element in curbing illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The deployment of military units was a foreign policy signal that the USA was taking border security seriously. On the other hand, the risks concerned the possibility of using the armed forces to perform police functions, which is prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. In addition, there were questions about the politicization of the army’s role, inefficient use of military resources, and the separation of units from the process of combat training. Keywords US AF, internal function of the AF, migration, US-Mexico border, border security, Operation «Guardian Support», Operation «Faithfull Patriot».