Missouri – The Trump administration has asked Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe to send state National Guard personnel to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kehoe is considering this request. The plan would put Missouri on a growing list of Republican-led states that have been asked to send troops to help with immigration enforcement.
The administration’s plan is that Guard members would not be involved in arrests or direct enforcement. Instead, they would do paperwork, transportation, and other tasks related to immigration prisoners. Even though the work would be paid for by the federal government, Kehoe would still be in charge of all the troops.
Kehoe’s spokesperson, Gabby Picard, confirmed the request but didn’t say how many Guard members may be called up. Picard said that they would simply help with administration and transportation, making it clear that the deployment would not put Guard members in front-line law enforcement roles.
There has been a bigger change at the Pentagon that led to the request. On July 25, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave state-controlled Guard personnel permission to directly help federal immigration authorities. The decision sent 500 more troops to the country, bringing the total number of service members in the Department of Defense to around 1,700.
Missouri is now one of ten states being looked at for more Guard commitments. Federal officials have said that the expansion will help ICE agents focus more on their main job.
“By providing these crucial services, DoD military personnel directly enable ICE to dedicate more trained agents to core law enforcement activities,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. “The Department of Defense is committed to supporting the Department of Homeland Security in its mission to maintain the security of our borders and enforce immigration laws.”
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The decision also falls into a larger trend of states getting more involved. By the end of August, 20 states, all with Republican governors, had either promised to help the National Guard or were looking at requests. The push is part of a larger plan by the Trump administration to use state military resources to make immigration enforcement stronger.
Missouri has used its Guard in the past to deal with immigration issues. Kehoe put the Guard on alert earlier this year because he thought there might be protests in St. Louis about immigration restrictions. Even though the protests were peaceful and no troops were sent in, Kehoe stressed the need for a precautionary strategy at the time.
If granted, this latest step would further contribute to the rising presence of federal law enforcement in Missouri. Senator Eric Schmitt and FBI Director Kash Patel announced last week that the FBI would be hiring more people to fight violent crime in St. Louis. As part of a larger effort to reduce crime, President Trump has already sent almost 2,000 federal troops to cities run by Democrats, including Washington, D.C.
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The governor hasn’t said when a final decision would be made. But the request shows that Missouri could soon join the list of states that send Guard soldiers to help with immigration enforcement. This is another indicator of how much the federal government is relying on state military resources.
