200 US Marines will be sent to Florida to support President Donald Trump’s massive deportation efforts, the US Northern Command announced Thursday.
The Marines announced they will be deployed to Sunshine from an air force base in North Carolina and “strengthen enforcement of US immigration and customs enforcement.”
Marines will not be involved in law enforcement obligations, the statement said. Instead, they support administrative and logistical responsibility under ice directions.
The announcement will open Florida to open up Wani Alcatraz, a detention center deep inside the Everglades, part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s plan to support federal immigration businesses. The site has attracted acute criticism from immigrant advocates and environmentalists, and began housing detainees on Wednesday night. It is not yet clear whether the deployed Marines will be stationed at the new detention center.
The agency said the deployment of the Marines was “the first wave of USNORTHCOM’s support for this ice mission,” and the Secretary of Defense has approved a unit of up to 700 people in response to a request from the Department of Homeland Security.
Thursday’s Marine Corps mobilization is part of the federal government’s push to focus law enforcement and military operations on the Trump immigration agenda.
