Senate investigation revealed ICE has attempted to deport 282 veterans and their relatives; could be violating law that prevents the use of military against civilians

“Service members must have confidence that their sacrifices will be honored, not used against them or to target their loved ones.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

August 11, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) led a bicameral letter pressing the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Veterans Affairs (VA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on their efforts to coordinate to arrest, and detain, and deport hundreds of veterans and military families.In April 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rescinded its long-standing policy that treated military service a “significant mitigating factor” when deciding whether to pursue immigration enforcement, and replaced it with a new policy stating that military service alone “does not automatically exempt” non-citizens from enforcement actions. 

ICE Recruitment graphic 

In September 2025, Senator Warren opened an investigation into the impacts of these policy changes on military families. The investigation revealed that ICE has attempted to deport 282 veterans and their relatives. But DHS refused to disclose the number of active-duty troops and their families who have been threatened by the administration’s policy.

But new reports indicate that DoDand DHS appear to be coordinating to convert military bases into “traps” for individuals this administration deems deportable and has  detained non-citizens during routine check-ins, visits, and drop-offs at or near military installations. At the same time, DoD has continued to recruit new service members with the promise of immigration protections. 

Recent reporting by the Associated Press reveals that, since January 2025, more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained, and at least six have been deported. ICE’s statistics show that the agency has arrested 16 non-citizen armed forces members since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2026. Some service members have reportedly needed to take leave or delay deployment because ICE detained their families. 

“These efforts imperil military readiness, weaken service members’ morale, and betray America’s promises to the people who put their lives on the line for our nation,” wrote the lawmakers. Alarmingly, DoD has been reportedly targeting individuals at military installations, detaining them on military property, and turning them over to ICE — effectively converting military bases into “traps” for noncitizens. For example, a 22-year-old military wife was recently detained while attempting to obtain a military spouse I.D. Military officials allegedly called DHS and held her in a room until ICE agents arrived to take her to a detention center. 

“DoD’s participation in civil immigration enforcement activities raises both ethical and legal concerns, including potential violations of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using the armed forces of the military for civilian law enforcement,” wrote the lawmakers. 

The coalition warned that if service members were to be swept up in any of these enforcement actions, it could separately constitute a violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which provides protections to all members of the United States military on active duty, including non-citizens, from civil actions—such as immigration proceedings—that interfere with their military duties. 

“Service members must have confidence that their sacrifices will be honored, not used against them or to target their loved ones,” wrote the lawmakers. “DoD’s new anti-immigrant practices risk deterring future recruits and damaging the credibility of military recruitment efforts—which promised to care for service members even after their time in uniform.”

The lawmakers requested that the agencies explain the enhanced coordination between DoD and DHS, restore long-standing immigration protections for family members of service members, and explain what steps they are taking to protect troops, veterans, and their families from unjust immigration enforcement by August 23, 2026.

The letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Daniel Davis (D-Ill.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Chuy García (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Marc Veasey (D-Texas), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), joined in signing the letter.

The letter was endorsed by the Immigration Defenders Law Center, the Seattle Clemency Project, Common Defense, Repatriate Our Patriots, and League of United Latin American Citizens.

“It is hard to imagine a more profound betrayal than targeting service members, veterans, and military families for deportation,” said Jennie Pasquarella, interim executive director of the Seattle Clemency Project. “This administration is abandoning decades of bipartisan policies that recognized a simple truth: protecting those who serve makes our military stronger and our nation safer. Targeting the very communities that have sacrificed for this country is not just morally indefensible, it is a direct attack on military readiness, recruitment, and trust.”

“This administration has made a conscious decision to abandon its promises to military families and fail those who put their lives on the line for our nation,” said Amanda Schuft, director of legal services at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “We have seen the devastating human cost firsthand. Our client, the father of an active-duty Army service member, was detained by ICE despite suffering from terminal renal failure, forcing his son to take leave from military service to plead for his release and provide evidence of his grave medical condition. The government ignored those pleas. After his health deteriorated in detention, our client was eventually released, only to die within weeks.”

“Family readiness directly impacts mission readiness. Behind every military spouse or parent in detention is a servicemember who could deploy at any moment. Without a strong homefront, we cannot have a ready force. Our government must honor its commitments to those who serve,” said Danitza G. James, MSW, President, Repatriate Our Patriots. 

Senator Warren has led the fight to hold the Trump administration accountable for mishandling military funds to pursue its cruel immigration agenda and has continuously fought for the safety and well-being of our servicemembers and veterans:

• In May 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released new answers from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense revealing the Pentagon’s financial support for the Trump administration’s cruel immigration agenda was far higher than initially reported by DoD.
• In April 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), along with Representative Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) and Representative Troy Carter (D-La.), urged the Inspectors General of the Departments of Homeland Security and State to open an investigation into the Trump administration’s attempts to deport people to countries they have no ties to. These deportations use the military to conduct the international deportation flights and detain noncitizens on U.S. military bases within the United States and overseas.
• In March 2026, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) led 52 members of Congress in a new investigation into potential corruption in government contracts stemming from the White House’s fast-tracked expansion of inhumane warehouse-based immigration detention facilities using a Navy contracting vehicle.
• In March 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released new data obtained from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealing that the Trump administration has attempted to deport hundreds of veterans and their family members after promising immigration protections at the time of recruitment. 
• In January 2026, following a new report by the Congressional Budget Office revealing Trump’s domestic deployments of the National Guard and Marines have cost at least $589 million — more than double what Senator Warren’s bicameral investigation previously found — she called for the Trump administration to “answer for wasting more than half a billion taxpayer dollars.”
• In December 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Trump’s nominee to be Army General Counsel, on the deployment of the National Guard and reports that senior Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers have been sidelined after raising legal concerns about military operations.
• In December 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative John Garamendi (D-Calif.) co-led the release of a new report, along with 11 other members of Congress, revealing the Trump administration diverted more than $2 billion of military funds and resources from the Pentagon to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for immigration enforcement and its impact on readiness and morale. The report also revealed that the diversion of funds was happening at the expense of updates to barracks, maintenance hangers, and military construction projects in the Pacific.
• In October 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) joined colleagues in requesting that CBO provide an independent assessment of the projected costs associated with the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities.
• In September 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), along with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), and Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.), led 55 members of Congress in opening a new investigation into the Trump administration’s arrest, detention, and deportation of non-citizen service members, veterans, and military families.  
• In September 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) led more than 60 members of Congress in opening a new investigation into the Trump administration’s practice of detaining and sending immigrants to countries where they have no citizenship or connections of any kind. These deportations use the military to conduct the international deportation flights and detain noncitizens on U.S. military bases within the United States and overseas.
• In February 2025, Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) pressed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the military’s deployment of active-duty forces to the southern border and Guantanamo and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) new involvement in immigration detention and deportation.
  
  Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren