Wyoming guard looks to Congress for money as Trump deployments hit accounts

The Wyoming National Guard’s coffers are feeling the pinch of President Donald Trump’s second administration after a deployment to Washington D.C. for the January inauguration, federal hiring freezes and a new mission supporting immigration enforcement, guard officials said this week.

The cost of the guard’s deployment to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the accelerating drive to round up, detain and deport vast numbers of immigrants nationwide is still unknown, Maj. Gen. Greg Porter told state lawmakers on the Joint Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs Committee. 

The unprecedented new role for guard troops, who state officials have said will only work in Wyoming, is still taking shape. But whatever the tasks, and the costs that come with them, it is for now an expense borne by Porter’s department, not the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“It’s free chicken right now to ICE,” Porter said. “So, we’ll see how long this lasts and where that goes, but it really has an impact on our readiness accounts.” Porter was referring to accounts that support guard training and operations, which are funded by the federal government, not Wyoming. 

National Guard units from around the country are now asking Congress for money to refill their coffers so that they afford their usual fall training deployments, Porter said. Wyoming has been able to steward its funds so that its fall training will occur, he said, but other states will find themselves in a tight spot if Congress doesn’t spend more money. 

“Some states could face significant financial liabilities that would directly impact readiness,” Porter told WyoFile in an emailed statement. “To keep the Guard trained, equipped, and ready to respond when our nation calls, federal funding must be provided accurately, fully, and on time.”

In his second administration, Trump has deployed both the national guard and the regular military to control American citizens in unprecedented ways. Citing one crisis after another — rationales that critics consider manufactured excuses to use emergency powers — Trump has now sent guard troops onto the streets of two American cities, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

In Los Angeles, Trump claimed troops were necessary to maintain order after residents began to protest sweeping immigration enforcement actions in the city. He ordered the deployment over local and state leaders’ objections. 

In Washington D.C., again acting over the wishes of local officials, Trump has sent the district’s national guard troops, who have now been joined by guard units from six Republican-led states. Trump claims the troops, who are joined by federal law enforcement agents from ICE, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are necessary to quell a wave of crime. 

Recent crime statistics do not bear that claim out, though federal officials have suggested those numbers were manipulated. 

Porter told committee members he did not think the Wyoming National Guard would join the D.C. deployment. 

Wyoming troops did travel to the capitol in January, however, to provide a security presence during Trump’s inauguration. The guard spent $250,000 out of its readiness accounts on that deployment, and the federal government has yet to reimburse that money, Porter said. 

Wyoming also sent troops to President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. That inauguration came on the heels of the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters stormed the seat of government to try and stop an electoral college count that secured Biden’s victory. Both inaugurations ultimately occurred peacefully. 

ICE deployment 

The Wyoming National Guard has asked for 15 volunteers to provide logistical, administrative and transport support to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in the state. The guard and the federal government are in the process of selecting and vetting that group of troops, guard spokesperson Joseph Coslett told WyoFile. 

At the committee meeting, Porter told lawmakers the operation was still shaping up, but said Wyoming troops wouldn’t conduct any law enforcement activities in the state. They could be involved in transporting detained immigrants to ICE holding centers in other states, though, Porter said. 

Though in the field troops would take direction from ICE agents, Porter said they would remain under the ultimate discretion of Gov. Mark Gordon, and that funds to support the effort would be routed through the gubernatorial administration. 

Gordon’s decision to enlist Wyoming troops in immigration enforcement comes as he increasingly ties the state to Trump’s aggressive efforts to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. Trump is also increasingly removing protections for people from some countries who had legal status, growing the pool of deportable immigrants. 

ICE is increasingly detaining people who do not have criminal convictions, but whose presence in the country is illegal. Under federal law, unlawful presence in the country on its own is a civil offense, not a criminal one. (Entering the country improperly is a crime.) From January through the end of June, the majority of people ICE arrested in Wyoming did not have a criminal conviction, according to an analysis of ICE arrest data by WyoFile and The Colorado Sun. ICE arrests in the state, however, nearly tripled during that time period. 

“Gov. Gordon’s assertions that this authorization is in pursuit of public safety strains credulity and is at odds with what’s happening on the ground and what data shows,” American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming spokesperson Janna Farley said in a statement issued to Wyoming Public Media and KHOL when those outlets reported on the guard deployment last week. 

Gordon was joining the Trump administration in stoking fear among immigrant communities, Farley said. Those communities are often composed of families of mixed legal status.

“The fear among immigrants and their loved ones across Wyoming is palpable,” Farley said. We’ve seen this fear lead to empty outdoor concerts, families going without groceries and valuable employees being too terrified to show up to work. Heightening this fear by mobilizing the National Guard will continue to drain resources and contribute to even more devastation in our communities.”

For his part, Gordon has said Wyoming must do its part to help secure the country, and has repeatedly invoked the immigration-hawk adage that “every state is a border state.”

Hiring freeze

As Trump places novel domestic demands on the guard, his administration has also blunted its hiring. A federal hiring freeze includes the agency, Porter said. The freeze has left the Wyoming National Guard “not in a great place,” Porter said. The guard currently has 70 full-time positions vacant and unfillable under the freeze, he said. 

Wyoming lost ten Army National Guard employees and five Air National Guard employees to the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage federal employees to retire, Porter told lawmakers. The freeze could have a long-term impact on the department, he suggested, if not reversed. 

“I can see us shrinking in the full-time force a little bit, which is not where I want to be and I think an unintended consequence of the administration’s path right now,” Porter said. “Because I don’t think they really mean to reduce the amount of lethality we can generate in the National Guard.”