OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
10:35 AM – Saturday, August 23, 2025
Up to 1,700 National Guardsmen are set to be mobilized across 19 states by the Trump administration as part of the president’s clampdown on illegal immigration.
Fox News recently obtained a document listing the states that will be impacted by a military presence in the coming weeks: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Texas is expected to see the largest impact.
More than a week into President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in D.C. using the National Guard, the White House is denying the notion that the new plan is simply an expansion of the militarization of the Nation’s Capital.
“This isn’t new nor is it tied to the President’s efforts to address violent crime in DC.,” a White House official said. “DoD announced last month that National Guard troops would assist DHS with clerical support and other logistical tasks for processing illegal aliens at ICE facilities. It is separate from the federal interagency crime crackdown.”
The stationing of the National Guard in states outside of D.C. supports a national interagency effort to deter illegal immigration, supporting the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which spiked at the end of the previous presidential administration.
The Guardsman will most likely be carrying out tasks including “personal data collection, fingerprinting, DNA swabbing, and photographing of personnel in ICE custody,” according to an official familiar with the matter.
The president does, however, see the broad use of the National Guard as a part of an overarching plan to make American cities safe. He sees the plan also expanding to more left-leaning states, as well, claiming that “African-American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘Please, President Trump, come to Chicago.’”
In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said, “I think Chicago will be our next. And then we’ll help with New York.”
“Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next, that will be our next one after this and it won’t even be tough,” Trump added, emphasizing the need for a firm approach to crime in certain cities.
Though he’s eager to eradicate crime and illegal immigration nationwide, the president conceded that he has not yet contacted Democrat leaders, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, to enforce his campaign promises via the military.
A U.S. Defense official clarified to Fox News Digital, “We won’t speculate on further operations, but can tell you that the department is a planning organization and continues to work and plan with other agency partners to protect federal assets and personnel.”
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