
DHS asks for 20,000 National Guard troops for immigration roundups
By TARA COPP and REBECCA SANTANA
The Department of Homeland Security has asked for 20,000 National Guard troops to assist with immigration roundups across the country, and the Pentagon is reviewing the unusual request, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press.
DHS asked for the troops to help carry out President Donald Trump's 'mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens,' department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. She said DHS will 'use every tool and resource available" to do so because the 'safety of American citizens comes first.'
Unlike the troops deployed at the southern border, these National Guard units would come from the states and be used to assist in deportation operations in the interior of the country.
How the troops would be used may depend on whether they remain under state governors' control. Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops under federal orders cannot be used for domestic law enforcement, but units under state control can.
The addition of 20,000 National Guard troops would provide a huge boost to immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the country, has a total staff of about 20,000 people spread across three divisions.
Enforcement and Removals Operations, which is the division directly responsible for arresting and removing people who do not have the right to stay in the country, has a total staff of roughly 7,700 people, including a little over 6,000 law enforcement officers.
It was unclear why the request was made to the Defense Department and not to the states. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
Trump has been carrying out a wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration, issuing a series of executive orders designed to stop what he has called the 'invasion' of the United States.
The U.S. already has as many as 10,000 troops under state and federal orders along the U.S.-Mexico border, including some who are now empowered to detain migrants they encounter along a newly militarized narrow strip of land adjacent to the border.
So far, these troops have largely been limited to providing airlift, bolstering the wall, surveillance and administrative support to free up border agents for arrests or detentions.
Along the newly militarized zone, troops have put up warning signs and accompanied border agents but left the detention of migrants crossing the border to other agencies.
In New Mexico, where the new militarized zone was first created, federal magistrate judges have started dismissing national security charges against migrants accused of crossing the southern U.S. border through the newly designated military zone, finding little evidence that they were aware of the zone.
The request for 20,000 troops was first reported by The New York Times.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Nikkei Asia
8 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
A good day for AI, a rough one for Elon Musk
Hi from Yifan, your #techasia host this week, sending this newsletter from the unusually busy Silicon Valley. Summer is normally a quieter time as people go on vacation and enjoy some breeze. But not this year. More U.S. trade deals are being announced and Big Tech earnings season kicked off this week. But what excites Silicon Valley the most is probably the government's long-awaited AI action plan unveiled on Wednesday. The 28 pages of guidelines detail how U.S. President Donald Trump's administration plans to govern AI. It's a long document, so if you want to save some time, here's the gist: no regulation, no "wokeness," more exports. Silicon Valley had feared U.S. regulators might throw up roadblocks in front of the fast-moving technology revolution, as the European Union did with the EU AI Act. But they can breathe a sigh of relief now. Trump assured the companies that the federal government will not get in their way as long as they can beat China in the AI race -- he even said he would block state-level regulations on AI. Trump also said he will further relax some export rules so that other countries will buy more tech products from the U.S. and build their AI future on American hardware and software. The action plan doesn't address copyright infringement, misinformation, deepfakes and many other key issues with AI, but judging by the share prices of Nvidia and other AI-related companies on Wednesday, it at least makes investors happy. Speaking of happy, one thing Trump is not entirely pleased with when it comes to artificial intelligence is its name. "I don't like the name artificial anything, because it's not artificial. It's genius. It's pure genius," Trump said of AI on Wednesday, suggesting the technology be renamed. But what the president dislikes even more is "woke" AI. Trump said his administration will make sure the American people do not have "woke Marxist lunacy" in their AI, starting by signing an executive order that directs the federal government not to use AI to generate output that embraces DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion. AI with American characteristics While much of Trump's U.S. AI action plan is focused on competing with China, the day may still come when Washington and Beijing are far more aligned on AI governance. During a keynote speech on Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. has to "be able to play by the same set of rules" with China if it wants to win the AI race, Nikkei Asia's Yifan Yu reports. Trump specifically said he wants the AI industry to be more patriotic, similar to what Beijing has demanded from its own tech sector. "Perhaps most importantly, winning the AI race will demand a new spirit of patriotism and national loyalty in Silicon Valley," Trump said. "We need U.S. technology companies to be all in for America. We want you to put America first. You have to do it, that's all we ask." The AI action plan repeatedly mentions that AI models should reflect "American values." China has language in its generative AI regulations emphasizing that content produced through the use of generative AI must reflect "Socialist Core Values" -- the governing credo of the Chinese Communist Party. Value adding Top multinationals like McDonald's and UK insurer Bupa are joining giants such as Goldman Sachs and Tesco to set up back offices in India to drive their in-house innovation in artificial intelligence, writes the Financial Times' Krishn Kaushik and Chris Kay in Bengaluru. As many non-tech companies struggle to compete for hires in the red-hot market for AI in their home countries, India offers an opportunity to recruit tech talent at scale. Groups are doing so by setting up so-called global capability centers that can perform a wide range of big data-related tasks. Analysts predict these centers, which employ nearly 2 million people today, can reach $100 billion in revenue by 2030, up from $65 billion revenue last year. For India, this presents a step up the value chain, as these back offices move from providing support services to performing core competitive functions that directly affect companies' profitability. In search of stability South Korea's new government under President Lee Jae Myung is eager to issue won-backed stablecoins -- digital tokens pegged to traditional currencies -- hoping to nurture the country's digital asset market and give it a prominent place globally, Nikkei Asia's Kim Jaewon and Stella Yifan Xie write. Seoul's move comes amid a broader battle surrounding the crypto technology's geopolitical influence, following an aggressive push for dollar-pegged coins by the U.S. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the GENIUS Act, which sets up a federal framework to regulate dollar-pegged stablecoins. The bill is being sent to Trump, who is expected to sign it into law. Such developments have in turn brightened investor sentiment toward digital assets, lifting the price of bitcoin, one of the most-traded cryptocurrencies, above $123,000, an all-time high. A rough patch of road Attending an AI summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Trump gave shout-outs to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other tech leaders present at the event. But one noticeable absence was Tesla CEO Elon Musk. That could be because Musk was busy answering questions at Tesla earning's call on Wednesday afternoon, during which he warned investors that there might be more "rough quarters" ahead as the U.S. EV giant tries to transform into an AI and robotics company, starting with the recent launch of robotaxis, Nikkei Asia's Yifan Yu reports. It could also be because of the falling out between Musk and Trump. The once-hailed "first buddy" tech billionaire has left his post as a special advisor in the White House and engaged in several virtual shouting matches with the president since. At the same time, Huang appears to have become Trump's new favorite tech rock star. The Nvidia CEO is also becoming a more prolific figure in geopolitics, as Beijing looks for a business leader who could replace Musk as a bridge to Trump, Nikkei Asia's Ken Moriyasu and Yifan Yu write. Can China ever match ASML's lithography mastery? Welcome to the Tech Latest podcast. Hosted by our tech coverage veterans, Katey Creel and Shotaro Tani, every Tuesday we deliver the hottest trends and news from the sector. In this episode, Shotaro speaks with Taipei tech correspondent Annie Cheng Ting-Fang about how China's chip ambitions are being tested by the challenge of matching ASML's lithography capabilities. Find us on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Voicy | YouTube | YouTube Music Suggested reads 1. Japan bets big on ultrathin, ultralight solar panels (Nikkei Asia) 2. Microsoft accuses Chinese hackers of exploiting SharePoint software (FT) 3. LG bets on AI as government pushes for 'sovereign' models (Nikkei Asia) 4. Xi Jinping warns Chinese officials against over-investment in AI and EVs (FT) 5. SK Hynix's Q2 profit hits record on strong AI chip demand (Nikkei Asia) 6. Amazon to shut down Shanghai AI research lab (Nikkei Asia) 7. 'No longer a pet project': tiny Beijing stock exchange becomes IPO hub (FT) 8. Asia's 'peak polarization' is yet to come, says Taiwan's Audrey Tang (Nikkei Asia) 9. AI demand powers Taiwan's TSMC to its highest-ever quarterly profit (FT) 10. The Magnificent 7 growth slowdown (FT)


The Mainichi
9 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Editorial: Will Japan-US tariff agreement protect Japan's interests?
Is this agreement truly in Japan's national interests? The governments of Japan and the United States have reached an accord amid U.S. President Donald Trump's high-tariff policies. The U.S. will lower its so-called "reciprocal tariff" on Japanese imports from 25% to 15%. Separately, the tariff on Japanese automobiles, which had been raised by an additional 25%, will be set at 15%. Japan will in turn expand imports of American rice and other goods, and promote Japanese corporate investment in the U.S. The 25% reciprocal tariff was scheduled to take effect Aug. 1. Combined with tariffs already imposed on automobiles, this posed a severe threat to the Japanese economy. Japan's government had sought to have the terms reviewed, but the U.S. stood firm, leading to prevailing opinion that the tariffs were inevitable. Following news of the agreement, the Nikkei 225 stock index soared on expectations the impact would not be as great as feared. Trump admin defying logic Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba emphasized, "The tariff rate is the lowest among countries that have a trade surplus with the U.S., and it matches the interests of both Japan and the United States." He also highlighted that the agreed rates were lower than the roughly 20% tariffs negotiated with countries such as Vietnam. Securing a reduction in the automobile tariff, having been seen as particularly difficult, should be commended to a degree. However, many concerns remain with the agreement. Even with the reduction, the tariffs still exceed 10%. Previously, Japanese cars faced just a 2.5% U.S. tariff. Meanwhile, the 50% tariff on steel products remains unchanged. The challenging conditions for the Japanese economy remain unchanged. Trump's America First policies are extremely reckless. Although his first administration had signed a trade agreement with Japan and promised auto tariff reductions, those promises were unilaterally shelved. By accepting the current terms, Japan is ultimately permitting such unreasonable methods. There are also concerns about what Japan has conceded in return for tariff relief. Japan has agreed to U.S. demands to expand rice imports -- a persistent ask from Trump. Though Japan currently allows duty-free imports for roughly 10% of its annual rice consumption, it will now increase U.S. rice imports on top of this fixed quota. Ishiba insisted, "There are no reductions in Japanese tariffs. We have protected what needed to be protected." However, rice is Japan's staple food and a matter of food security. Rather than yielding to U.S. pressure, import policy should be decided from a long-term agricultural policy perspective including the current rice shortage. To promote Japanese investment in the U.S., government-affiliated financial institutions will provide backing through investments and loans totaling some 80 trillion yen (around $547.7 billion). This will cover sectors prioritized by Trump's "reviving American manufacturing" agenda, such as shipbuilding and semiconductors. Trump boasted of it as the "largest (trade) deal ever made," writing in a social media post that "Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits." Trump's high tariff threats are, in effect, coercing Japanese investment. These steps could even harm U.S. interests. Higher tariffs mean higher import prices, which suppress consumption and worsen the economy. Even if protectionism shields domestic industry, high costs will persist and competitiveness will only suffer. Japan must keep pressing to eliminate tariffs The Japanese government must do all it can to support domestic industries. If exports to the U.S. decline and car makers' business deteriorates, the effects will be felt by their small and medium-sized suppliers. After the ruling coalition's resounding defeat in the July 20 House of Councillors election, Ishiba cited tariff negotiations as a reason to stay on. But can a weakened administration truly stand behind the agreement's contents? The global free trade system is also in danger. Trump's one-sided imposition of high tariffs flies in the face of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Not only does this worsen the world economy, it also shakes the postwar international order. Nations around the world have prospered by lowering tariffs together and promoting active trade. Japan as well has benefited from free trade. While countries have largely resisted the U.S.' high tariffs, only a handful have reached agreements. It is not enough for Japan alone to settle. If Japan and the U.S., two major economies, set a precedent for accepting high tariffs, the consequences will be negative and stark. Japan has a responsibility to uphold the free trade system, and the government must not let these negotiations end here. It should continue to tenaciously urge the United States to abolish tariffs.


Japan Today
9 hours ago
- Japan Today
Japan needs true vision of peace toward next 80 years
opinion By Nassrine Azimi In 1979, a Harvard University Professor and American sociologist, the late Ezra Vogel, published a book that became a runaway bestseller in both Japan and the United States. While most commentators at the time focused on its eye-catching main title, "Japan as Number One," the subtitle was equally compelling: Lessons for America. Vogel at times joked that his book had sold for the wrong reasons. He had tried to understand and explain the societal forces behind Japan's economic miracle, but an even stronger motivation had been his alarm at America's decline. He thought it was Japanese society as a whole that carried lessons for America. Living in Japan, I find myself periodically revisiting Vogel's book, reflecting on its ongoing relevance for our times. As America moves in directions unknown to its allies, enemies and maybe even to itself, what lessons might he have drawn for Japan today? He would start with a reality check of Japan's deep-rooted challenges: a region fraught with geopolitical tensions, the constant risk of large-scale natural disasters, an aging and declining population and other woes. Yet he would also be the first to remind of Japan's strengths, such as its peace credentials, its resilient democracy and rule of law, its educated population, its safety, world-class cultural traditions and public institutions. In light of the political and societal changes unfolding in the United States, however, I believe there are at least three immediate areas where Japan needs to significantly speed up its transformation. These are in peace diplomacy, higher education, and environmental sustainability. How can Japan maintain its peace credentials in a period of increasing security threats and military buildup in the region? How can it ensure its own protection and safeguard alliances, while at the same time preserving the Peace Constitution's legacy? How can it control a rising military budget without damaging the country's social fabric at a time of competing national expenditures? My peace activist friends in Hiroshima often criticize their government for not providing meaningful leadership in nuclear disarmament negotiations. On the other hand, considering Japan is under the nuclear umbrella of the United States, the government's stance is bound to be, at best, a difficult balancing act. Despite such constraints, Japan can do more to articulate its own unique and genuine vision of peace. Tokyo remains far too deferential to Washington. As times change, the world needs a more independent expression of what Japan means when it says peace. As to higher education, Japanese universities lag significantly in global rankings, with its best performer, the University of Tokyo, currently at around 28th. Despite decades of policies to consolidate and internationalize, the sector struggles to attract foreign talent. Japan's affordable higher education and attractive culture and society could be strong draws for international students, particularly at a time when many worry about the U.S. administration's policies on student visas and unsettling moves to muzzle academic freedoms. Yet language barriers and a lack of professional opportunities for foreign graduates remain daunting. I have worked with many bright students in Japan who ultimately, and reluctantly, left the country after graduation to settle elsewhere. This is a great loss. Japan needs to attract and keep foreign graduates and young professionals, helping them integrate much more easily. Language acquisition is key. Finally, it is clear that the current U.S. administration has decided to abdicate its environmental leadership role. Japan can step in to fill the gap but currently punches far below its weight: in a 2024 OECD survey of 30 countries, Japan ranked 23rd in sustainability. Despite technological prowess and a vast potential for renewable energy from geothermal, solar, and tidal sources, it is still highly dependent on fossil fuels for its energy needs. While ordinary citizens diligently sort out the mountains of plastic waste the country produces, groundbreaking innovation in waste management or the circular economy still seem in the distant future. Efforts to decarbonize infrastructure and promote green architecture lag, and the promised green revolution advances more at a crawl. For a country that seamlessly marries high-end technology with mottainai and wabi-sabi traditions, Japan is a natural source of leadership in addressing environmental threats. It should seize the chance. Eighty years after the war Japan has overcome many challenges, but it cannot remain as it is. To paraphrase the main character in "The Leopard" by author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, "For things to remain the same, everything must change." Nassrine Azimi, a co-founder of a global initiative called Green Legacy Hiroshima which promotes peace through atomic-bombed trees, was an original member of the U.N. Institute for Training and Research and served as the first director of its Hiroshima Office. © KYODO