In the Trump administration, nearly every major department is an immigration agency

[February 21, 2025]  By REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Drug Enforcement Administration agents touting immigration arrests, IRS agents poring over documents, the military escorting deportation flights. As the Trump administration works on the president's pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations, the flurry of activity has stretched across the federal government — well beyond the Department of Homeland Security, the traditional home to most immigration and border security functions.

President Donald Trump's sweeping promises have translated into a whole-of-government approach for immigration enforcement. In other words, nearly every major Cabinet agency is an immigration agency in Trump's government.

The departments of State, Defense and Justice have made immigration a clear priority in their work and public messaging. Parts of the departments of Treasury and Health and Human Services have been involved. And the reach and focus on immigration are only expected to grow, with the Republican president late Wednesday signing an executive order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the U.S. illegally.

“The breadth of what is happening in these first couple of weeks is much wider than we saw during the first Trump administration,” said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.

Here's a look at how immigration enforcement is playing out across the federal government.

Immigration as a State Department priority

Trump has promised “mass deportations,” which means not only arresting as many people in the U.S. illegally as possible but also figuring out how to remove them from the country.

That's where the State Department comes in.

Marco Rubio's first international trip as secretary of state was to Central America, and he came away with deals for Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador to accept deportees from other nations. That helps officials address a key barrier: Many countries don't take back their citizens when deported.

Other issues were part of Rubio's trip — Chinese influence on the Panama Canal, for example — but migration was at the top of his agenda.

Tom Warrick, a former top DHS counterterrorism official who's now at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank, said that wasn't always the case.

“For DHS, for ICE in particular, it’s, 'What do you need foreign countries to do? OK. State Department, it’s now your requirement to go out and make that your top priority,'” he said.

Trump's pick for Rubio's deputy, Christopher Landau, was ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021 and played a key role in implementing the Remain in Mexico policy, and, like Rubio, speaks fluent Spanish.

That's another sign of immigration's importance, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration.

“Just the fact that the two of them are the No. 1 and 2 people in the State Department suggests the administration’s refocus on our own backyard," Krikorian said. "And immigration control is a big part of that.”

And from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, 600 agents were deputized Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to assist in “arresting and deporting” people in the country illegally.

A ramped-up military role

The Defense Department has played a border security role since the administration of George W. Bush, with active-duty and National Guard troops sent to the U.S.-Mexico border to back up Border Patrol agents.

But this administration has taken early high-profile steps that go further.

The Pentagon has beefed up the number of troops at the border and promised more. Instead of relying solely on Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flights, Air Force planes have been used to carry out 26 deportation flights — a rare step.

In his first trip as secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth visited troops on the border and said all department assets were on the table to assist. That includes Guantanamo Bay, where officials have sent 13 deportation flights of migrants they call “the worst of the worst” — though they've given little information about their identities or any crimes.

The administration’s Jan. 20 executive orders outline other possible changes for the Defense Department.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border indicates he may redirect money for border wall construction, something he did during his first term. And he gave Hegseth and Noem 90 days for recommendations on what's needed to take complete control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act. That would allow officials to circumvent rules limiting military involvement in civilian law-enforcement duties.

Warrick said the general public has largely been OK with the Pentagon taking part “behind the scenes," but that might change if the role becomes more visible.

“There’s a very clear line that exists in the mind of the American people who do not want to see uniformed military people arresting migrants, especially in their homes and and schools and houses of worship,” Warrick said.

Justice Department and ‘sanctuary cities’

A few days after being sworn into office, Attorney General Pam Bondi took aim at what the administration considers a key impediment: cities and states that don't work with immigration enforcement to identify and deport people in the country illegally. These are often called sanctuary cities.

Bondi announced a lawsuit targeting New York's attorney general and governor over a state law allowing people who might not be in the U.S. legally to get driver’s licenses. Days earlier, another Justice Department lawsuit targeted Chicago and Illinois, alleging that their “sanctuary” laws ” thwart federal efforts.

“This is a new DOJ,” said Bondi, appearing with Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter Kayla was killed in 2022 by a man who entered the U.S. illegally from El Salvador.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Drug Enforcement Administration have taken part in high-profile ICE operations to find and arrest migrants in the country illegally.

Putzel-Kavanaugh said those agencies used to play roles in line with their priorities, such as pursuing a drug charge. Now, it's a “much more highly publicized and much more singularly focused agenda for the DOJ,” she said.

The administration also has tapped the Department of Justice's Bureau of Prisons to hold detained migrants, beefing up Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention capacity.

Other departments are involved, too

Even the Internal Revenue Service has been brought in as part of immigration enforcement — Noem asked the arm of the Treasury Department to help target employers engaged in unlawful hiring practices and to monitor immigrants in the country illegally.

And the administration this week suspended a program run out of the Department of Health and Human Services that provides legal services to migrant children traveling alone.

What might be next?

Krikorian said he's looking for the Department of Labor to take on a greater role, especially as worksite enforcement becomes a bigger administration strategy.

And for the Education Department, with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency accessing federal student loan data that includes their parents' citizenship status, student advocates worry the administration will use that information to identify people in the country illegally.

In the executive order signed Wednesday, Trump seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens,” but it wasn't clear which benefits would be targeted. People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling.

The order directs all departments and agencies to identify federal benefit spending that is inconsistent with a 1996 welfare law that denies most public benefits to people in the country illegally.

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Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein, Collin Binkley and Michael Sisak contributed to this report.

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