Missouri stands ready and able to help train the surge of new ICE agents to beef up border security and immigration enforcement, Sen. Josh Hawley notes in a Friday letter to the Trump administration.
“My state is grateful for your efforts to reverse the lawless open borders policy of the previous administration,” Hawley writes to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons.
“A central part of these efforts has been the recruitment of thousands of additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.”
Indeed, as Noem noted recently, “ICE has received more than 141,000 applications from patriotic Americans who want to defend the homeland by removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the U.S. We have already given more than 18,000 tentative job offers.
“Americans are answering their country’s call to serve and help remove murderers, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, and gang members from our country.”
To help handle the coming influx of new ICE agents, Hawley touts the U.S. Army’s Fort Leonard Wood northeast of Springfield “to facilitate the swift and effective training of these officers.”
“Fort Leonard Wood is currently a critical hub for military law enforcement training – housing both the U.S. Army Military Police School (USAMPS) and the Marine Corps Police Academy (MCPA) – and has a long history of supporting other federal law enforcement training efforts,” his letter reads.
“The installation is able to accommodate sudden surges in its on-base population, and it currently has extra capacity to host additional missions due to the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI).
“Put simply, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri has the infrastructure, experience, and space to support the rapid expansion of ICE’s critical immigration enforcement workforce.”
Fort Leonard Wood already trains nearly 80,000 a year, both military and civilian personnel.
“Home to the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence,” the base’s website says, “Fort Leonard Wood now trains and educates service members and develops doctrine and capabilities for the Training and Doctrine Command’s U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School, U.S. Army Engineer School, and U.S. Army Military Police School.
“Fort Leonard Wood has received numerous additional responsibilities to include supporting a colonel-commanded Marine Corps Detachment and an Air Force Squadron, which are both the largest on any Army installation …”
Moreover, the site says, “a large Navy Seabee Detachment and elements of the Coast Guard train here as well.”
The 61,000-acre base, says Google AI, “is primarily known as a Center of Excellence for combat support and combat service support functions, including the 1st Engineer Brigade, 3rd Chemical Brigade, and 14th Military Police Brigade.
“The base conducts both Basic Combat Training (BCT) for new soldiers and advanced technical training for various military branches.”
The base is named for Major General Leonard Wood, “the only medical officer to ever hold the position of U.S. Army Chief of Staff,” and who commanded the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment “Rough Riders” during the Spanish-American War – with Theodore Roosevelt second in command.
