Bondi and Hegseth ordered to look at how military can be used in domestic operations

Donald Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to look at how the United States military might be used to prevent crime.

The executive order - “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Civilians” - was signed by Trump at the White House on Monday ahead of his 100th day in office Tuesday. It instructs Bondi and Hegseth to “determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel” can be used to support domestic law enforcement.

The order also establishes a legal defense mechanism for law enforcement officers accused of misconduct and threatens a crackdown on officials who prevent law enforcement officers from carrying out their duties.

However, experts have already warned the latest order risks violating the Posse Comitatus Act 1878, introduced to keep the Armed Forces out of police matters.

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,” the act states.

It was subsequently extended to apply the same restrictions to the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps.

Earlier this month, Trump attracted the same complaint after authorizing the U.S. military to take control of land at the country’s southern border with Mexico as part of his administration’s efforts to crack down on undocumented immigration from Central America.

A memorandum was sent to Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other members of the cabinet entitled “Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions” that outlined the president’s plan to allows American forces to “take a more direct role” in policing the border.

“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” the memo read. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.”

It gave the Department of Defense jurisdiction over federal lands in the region, including the Roosevelt Reservation that crosses California, Arizona and New Mexico, and would empower soldiers stationed there to detain immigrants accused of trespassing.

Among the other orders signed by the president on Monday was one seeking to punish sanctuary cities for failing to cooperate with immigration enforcement and another ordering truck drivers to prove they can speak English before hitting America’s roads.