SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Utah National Guard have received an email asking if they would volunteer to take part in an operation to assist the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Lt. Col. Christopher Kroeber with the Utah National Guard confirmed to FOX 13 News the email that asks members for their support with an operation scheduled to begin on or around Sept. 15, with troops who volunteer providing transportation, administrative and logistical support.
The email added that the operation would end on or about Nov. 15, and that "service members will be mobilized federally under section 502(f) of title 32 of the U.S. Code, which means that Utah troops would still be under state control while assisting federal authorities.
While the exact duties of volunteer troops was not included in the email, FOX News reports the members will support a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and crime in the country.
Kroeber said only a small percentage of the Guard's 7,000 troops will take part in the operation, which would see members possibly help by processing paperwork, taking fingerprints and transporting people to certain facilities.
“[Guard duty] takes ICE away from doing the administrative work, so they have more time on the ground,” said Brandy Farmer, president of Centro Civico Mexicano, a nonprofit Hispanic organization in the state.
Farmer said the alleged and non-specified new role for the National Guard will only further fear in the community.
“Our community is not going to believe that that’s all they’re doing,” she said.
The operation would come after President Donald Trump already sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C. after claiming that crime had made the city dangerous, despite recent statistics showing how serious crime had been going down. Trump has also threatened to send the Guard into Chicago and other cities.
During his monthly news conference last week, Gov. Spencer Cox said local National Guard troops are willing to support the removal of those who are in the country illegally, "with a couple caveats," which includes Utah members not being able to touch people or arrest them.
Cox added that another condition for Utah National Guard troops being allowed to participate in any operation is that it must be funded by the federal government, not the state.
For her part, Farmer is hoping members of the Utah National Guard won’t take up the volunteer request.
“That’s what America is supposed to be," she said. "We’re supposed to be a country that is supposed to be safe… loving and welcoming.”
Kroeber said that should any of the state's Guard troops take part in operations, it would only be in a support capacity in the state, and it's not expected that members would be sent elsewhere.
