The US Coast Guard has deployed its elite forces to Florida, Alaska and Hawaii after Donald Trump signed executive orders seeking to crackdown on illegal immigration on his second day in office.
Hours after Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency and outlined his intent to send the army to Mexico’s US border, the Coast Guard revealed a six-point plan for tackling crime at sea.
A statement from Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, said the strategy will focus on stopping “illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border.”
This includes bolstering the number of “specialized forces” units – a branch that focuses on fighting terrorism and serious crime – out on patrol.
Boats and aircrafts will circle the southeast US border near Florida to clamp down on mass migration from Haiti and Cuba, the statement said.
Forces will also be sent into waters around Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The announcement came on the same day Trump’s administration began a shake-up of the Department of Homeland Security, which included the firing of Coast Guard commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the armed forces’ first female service chief who had served since 2022.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman said Fagan had been relieved of her duties after a “long and illustrious career.”
Trump showcased his blueprint for increasing security on the southern border in a series of executive orders that began taking effect soon after his inauguration Monday.
This included the revival of priorities from his first term as President that were rolled back by Joe Biden, including forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico and finishing the border wall.
Other executive orders included new strategies, such as an effort to end automatic citizenship for the children of migrants who are either in the US illegally or on temporary visas.
A Biden-era app used by nearly a million migrants to enter America was also closed.
