Use of Paramilitary Units in Immigration Raids Raises Concerns Over Use of Force: Report

As the Trump administration has adopted a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement across the country, a new report indicates that units previously reserved for high-risk operations, including conflicts with armed drug cartels and military operations in the Middle East, are now being used to carry out arrests of undocumented immigrants on the streets of major U.S. cities.

A new investigation by WIRED revealed that the Trump administration has approved the use of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, also known as BORTAC, to conduct immigration enforcement operations in cities nationwide, marking a shift from its usual duties, which include desert rescues, executing high-risk warrants and even manhunts.

In its report, WIRED notes that the use of heavily armed paramilitary units for street-level immigration raids raises further questions about the administration's escalation of its crackdown on illegal immigration, as actions by BORTAC, and its sister unit, Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) , appear to heighten tensions with civilians and, in some cases, have led to reports of misconduct and abuse of authority and force.

As noted by the outlet, many BORTAC and BORSTAR members are military veterans and former police officers, some with records involving domestic violence or sexual assault and prior questionable uses of force. During the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, WIRED's review of 78 incident reports found that BORTAC and BORSTAR agents were the most violent among all federal agents deployed in Illinois.

In the reports reviewed by the outlet, Customs and Border Protection employees recorded more than 144 discrete uses of force by CBP personnel between September and early November. Of those, BORTAC and BORSTAR personnel were involved in 62 incidents, with 25 agents involved in two or more cases. Of the 234 federal law enforcement personnel WIRED identified in these reports, BORTAC and BORSTAR agents accounted for nearly a quarter of those involved in documented confrontations with civilians during Operation Midway Blitz.

According to the investigation, BORTAC and BORSTAR uses of force in Chicago included punching and kicking protesters, deploying tear gas, macing civilians, firing pepper balls and 40 mm foam rounds into crowds, using tasers, unleashing dogs on deportation targets and shooting unarmed civilians, killing at least one person.

"It's clear the administration likes the optics of BORTAC — the long guns, the camouflage, the body armor. They certainly did for Trump's first go-round," John Sandweg, who was director of ICE from 2013 to 2014, told WIRED. Sandweg added the unit is not generally familiar with urban policing and said its actions during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago underscore how poorly borderland tactics translate to densely populated cities.

"It's malpractice to have paramilitary teams try to impose order by force," he said.

The use of highly armed and trained units for civil immigration enforcement is not new. As noted by WIRED, during the first Trump administration, BORTAC personnel were deployed to Democrat-run sanctuary cities before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, in the summer of 2020, BORTAC agents were documented detaining protesters on the streets of Portland, Oregon, during the George Floyd protests.

Since the start of the second Trump administration, BORTAC and BORSTAR agents have participated in immigration operations in California, North Carolina, Minnesota and Vermont. Since October, Border Patrol paramilitary units, led by Timothy P. Sullivan, head of the Fort Bliss-based Border Patrol Special Operations Group, have also overseen the federal presence at an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, which has been a frequent target of protests, often resulting in violent clashes.

As noted in the report, no Border Patrol, CBP or ICE agent has faced criminal charges for their conduct during immigration operations in Chicago.

Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University's School of Justice Studies who has studied police militarization and paramilitary units for decades, told the outlet BORTAC's presence in Chicago was a textbook case of authoritarian overreach.

"Why are they enforcing civil immigration violations with paramilitary teams?" Kraska said. "Armored personnel carriers, hostage rescue tactics, Special Forces-grade weapons, SEAL-style tactics — why do you need all that for civil violations?"