Marines reassures families over ICE presence at graduation ceremony |
Marines reassures families over ICE presence at graduation ceremony
The Marine Corps is seeking to reassure military families that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers will not be conducting immigration enforcement at boot camp graduation ceremonies.
ICE officers will be present outside graduation events but only for “increased force protection measures” and to “expedite enhanced base access procedures,” according to a Wednesday press release from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in Beaufort, S.C.
“Due to an elevated force protection posture, additional support from federal law enforcement partners is essential,” the release states. “Their assistance enables us to maintain thorough and efficient screening while minimizing delays for our visitors. This collaborative effort ensures we uphold the highest security standards, protect critical infrastructure, and provide a safe and orderly environment for families celebrating this important milestone.”
The messaging comes after the Marine Corps on Tuesday announced ICE officers would be stationed outside graduation events to identify whether any family members of new Marines lacked legal status, causing an outcry.
The original notice, posted to the Parris Island website and first reported by NBC News, said federal law enforcement personnel would be present at installation access points “to conduct enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries during recruit family and graduation days.”
It marked the first time federal law enforcement agencies would help with base access operations at Parris Island in this way and comes as the Marine Corps has increased protection measures on bases amid the war in Iran. Those measures include requiring everyone who wants to access military sites to present federal REAL IDs, U.S. passports or U.S. birth certificates.
Migrants without legal status usually are ineligible for REAL IDs and don’t have U.S. passports or birth certificates.
Defense officials later told The Washington Post that an internal communications failure is to blame for the original notice, with a defense official at Parris Island requesting the original message be posted to the installation’s website.
They added that senior Marine Corps leaders at the Pentagon had not given their input on the notice, and that they never intended for immigration enforcement to occur at the graduations.
“We want these families to go see their kids graduate. We want these families to see their sons and daughters become United States Marines,” Marine Corps spokesperson Lt. Col. Joshua Benson told the Post.
ICE officials, meanwhile, have called NBC’s reporting “blatant fake news,” rejecting that its agents would be making any arrests at Marine graduation celebrations.
The incident reveals a friction point between a signature campaign pledge from President Trump to crack down on illegal immigration and a military service that recruits heavily from Hispanic communities in the U.S.
About 3 in 10 service members are Hispanic, according to recent Pentagon statistics, with the Marines having a history of letting some recruits enlist who entered the United States illegally.
ICE’s presence at the famed training base comes after an order in early March from U.S. Northern Command head Gen. Gregory Guillot to boost security at military bases across the U.S. — made in response to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, according to the Post.
But only a few days later, on March 6, the heightened security requirements, which include random vehicle inspections and identification checks for everyone entering Parris Island, created bottlenecks at the installation’s gates during a boot camp graduation, one of the military officials told the Post.
A decision was made to open more lanes of traffic at future graduations, prompting the Marines to ask for outside federal help, which the Department of Homeland Security offered via ICE.
Parris Island visitors are still required to present a REAL ID or state-issued identification card, a U.S. passport, or other federally approved identification credentials such as a birth certificate, according to the updated guidance.
Foreign nationals must submit a form for base access to Parris Island ahead of time and may be subject to additional screening by “government partner agencies,” while visitors without legal status are prohibited altogether.
Graduation is set for Friday morning, but family members have been allowed to visit the base since Wednesday.
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