Federal immigration agents will be stationed at Marine Corps graduation events this week, the service has announced, raising fears that undocumented relatives celebrating their loved ones’ achievements will be seized and deported.
The service is presenting the unusual move as a security enhancement for family events over the next few days at the Parris Island Marine Corps recruiting depot in South Carolina.
From Wednesday, relatives will be able to visit the training base, and attend a formal graduation ceremony on Friday.
A message on the installation’s website cited “increased force protection measures” and said federal law enforcement personnel “will be present at installation access points to conduct enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries during recruit family and graduation days”.
Yet similar to the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to a number of US airports this week amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, their specific responsibilities and powers were not immediately apparent.
In a statement to the Guardian, a homeland security spokesperson said the action was not intended to result in detentions.
“ICE will not be making arrests at the basic training graduation in Paris [sic] Island, SC,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the base told NBC News: “While the Marine Corps routinely coordinates with federal partners on security matters, this is the first time in recent memory that federal law enforcement agencies have supported base access operations at Parris Island in this capacity.
“To help ensure a smooth and timely process, guests should bring proper identification and limit the number of items they carry onto the installation.”
Neither statement specified how the federal immigration agents would integrate with existing base security, or if the deployment would be repeated at other military facilities hosting graduation events.
New security measures were put in place at Parris Island, where marine recruits undergo an intense 13-week basic training program separated from their families, after the US joined Israel in military strikes on Iran last month.
They require anybody seeking admission to the base to present a US passport, birth certificate or a Real-compliant identification issued only to those whose presence in the US has been verified as lawful.
Parris Island, opened in 1915, is one of two Marine Corps recruiting bases in the US, covering the eastern half of the country, and the only one where female recruits are trained. The service said about 20,000 recruits pass through annually, and there is a rolling program of graduation events.
The presence of immigration police at a US military base will raise suspicion that the Trump administration is ramping up its assault on service members and their families. The Guardian reported in October that growing numbers of US military veterans were being arrested for supporting anti-ICE protests.
The same month, ICE reportedly detained the parents of a serving marine and deported the father after they attempted to visit their pregnant daughter and her husband, also a marine, at Camp Pendleton, California.
The Marine Corps Times reported that Esteban Rios was arrested wearing a hat and shirt that both read: “Proud Dad of a US Marine”.