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On April 4, 2018, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the secretary of Defense to ask state governors to use the National Guard to provide assistance to DHS “in securing the southern border and taking other necessary actions to stop the flow of deadly drugs and other contraband, gang members and other criminals, and illegal aliens into this country.”

Trump isn’t the first president to use the National Guard this way. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama did it when they were presidents. Their National Guard operations were successful, and Trump’s probably will be too, if his operation is similar to theirs.

Apparently, the Border Patrol feels that way too. According to Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, experience has shown that the military can supplement the work of agents on the ground.

We do not know yet how the troops will be used. The memorandum gives the secretary of Defense, working with DHS and the attorney general, 30 days to submit an action plan detailing what resources and actions are needed, including federal law enforcement and U.S. military resources.

But we do know that Trump is taking this action pursuant to his authority under Title 32 of the U.S. Code, which means that the federal government will pay the cost of deploying the troops, but the troops will be under the command and control of the state. Bush and Obama also used Title 32.

We also know that Trump intends to keep National Guard troops at the border until his wall is built.

Read more at http://thehill.com/opinion/immigrati...ows-bush-obama

Published originally on The Hill.

About the author. Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years; he subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.