In January, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary declared that “an actual or imminent mass influx” of noncitizens is arriving along the entire southern border of the United States—even though border crossings are down.
This declaration—the first of its kind—allows the secretary to ask state and local governments for help in immigration enforcement by designating state and local law enforcement officials as immigration officers. Since then, Border Patrol has deputized 300 national guardsmen to conduct immigration arrests under a newly executed agreement with the Texas National Guard.
On March 25, 2025, the DHS Secretary renewed the agency’s mass influx declaration.
To find out more information about how the Trump administration made the decision to renew the “mass influx” declaration, the Council and the ACLU of Michigan filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Access to these records is crucial for the public to understand the Trump administration’s use of long-dormant provisions of U.S. immigration law and its unprecedented use of state and local law enforcement officers in immigration enforcement.
Read more: Seeking Records about DHS’s Unprecedent Mass Influx Declaration and Associated Agreements With State and Local Law Enforcement
