Arkansas’ governor says the National Guard will now carry out immigration enforcement duties in the state.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Tuesday the Arkansas National Guard will assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in their duties.
The governor says 40 personnel from both the Air and Army National Guard will be assigned to assist ICE agents across the state – 18 will go to Little Rock, 10 each to Fort Smith and Fayetteville, and two to Camp Robinson in North Little Rock for “command and control support.”
“Guardsmen will not be armed and will provide logistical support for detainee transport, operating or riding in a vehicle with an ICE agent who has custody of detained individuals. They will also help process detained individuals and perform clerical tasks to facilitate illegal immigrant detainment,” a statement from the Governor’s Office reads.
This comes as several law enforcement agencies, including Arkansas State Police, have also applied to function as immigration enforcement officers in the state under a program called 287(g). The program allows law enforcement agencies to partner with ICE at varying levels.
A bill signed into law by Sanders earlier this year requires Arkansas law enforcement to participate in the lowest level of the 287(g) program, called the Jail Enforcement Model. The highest level, called the Task Force Model, allows police to essentially function as ICE agents, making arrests and beginning deportation proceedings.
The Arkansas National Guard requested authority to make immigration arrests last month under the 287(g) program. Despite that, Sanders is authorizing the National Guard to assist ICE under a mobilization order called Title 32, which is typically used in natural disasters.
States across the country are now eligible to carry out similar mobilizations, pending approval by individual governors, after the Department of Defense approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security in July.
Sanders previously deployed National Guard personnel to the U.S. border with Mexico in 2023 and 2024. The current mobilization orders will run through November 15.
