Monitoring democratic institutions through public records
Using Military Inside the U.S. — Week of May 5, 2025
The military is supposed to fight foreign enemies, not police American citizens. There are strict laws about when troops can be used inside the U.S.
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On May 9, 2025, President Trump issued Proclamation 10935—Establishing Project Homecoming, which creates a new immigration enforcement program. The most notable provision directs the deputization and contracting of more than 20,000 additional enforcement officers, drawn from state police, local law enforcement, former federal agents, and "other individuals," to carry out mass removal operations across the United States.
This might matter because deputizing thousands of loosely defined personnel to conduct federal enforcement operations could weaken the accountability structures — hiring standards, use-of-force rules, inspector general oversight — that exist to prevent domestic policing from resembling military-style operations. U.S. law has long maintained a boundary between military force and civilian law enforcement specifically to protect people on American soil from unchecked government coercion.
There are important alternative explanations to consider. Most plausibly, programs allowing local officers to enforce immigration law already exist under agreements with ICE, and Project Homecoming may simply expand that established framework with standard oversight attached. It is also possible that the 20,000 figure is aspirational and will face significant practical constraints — funding, training requirements, and congressional appropriations — that slow or limit actual implementation. These alternatives are worth tracking as the program develops.
The proclamation does not invoke military authority; it cites immigration law. That distinction matters. But the sheer scale of ad hoc deputization and the vague category of "other individuals" eligible to conduct federal enforcement raised enough questions to warrant attention.
Limitations: This is AI-generated analysis based on the published proclamation text, not a finding of fact. How the program is actually implemented — and what accountability measures accompany it — will determine whether the concerns identified here are realized.