The U.S. military said Thursday that 200 Marines will be sent to Florida to provide logistical and administrative support to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Marines are the first step in U.S. Northern Command’s support of ICE’s enforcement efforts, the statement said. “Service members participating in this mission will perform strictly non-law enforcement duties within ICE facilities,” USNORTHCOM said in a statement. In June, 700 Marines were sent by President Donald Trump to calm protests against deportation operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Los Angeles. Critics voiced concerns about the way federal authorities treated migrants and the strategies employed by immigration officers during the raids, even though the raids were carried out by a lawful instruction from federal authorities. Both Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom opposed the deployments, claiming they would escalate tensions.

The military stressed that the Marines will only be responsible for administrative and logistical support within ICE facilities. “Approximately 200 Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 272, Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, are conducting a movement to Florida to augment U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) interior immigration enforcement mission with critical administrative and logistical capabilities at locations as directed by ICE,” U.S. Northern Command wrote in its statement. Strict rules prohibiting the Marines from interacting directly with anyone in ICE custody or participating in the custody procedure will need to be followed. The announcement, which most likely refers to the full deployment of troops in Louisiana and Texas, states that the deployments represent the first wave of support from U.S. Northern Command for ICE operations in the region.

The Pentagon authorized the deployment of up to 700 Defense Department staff in June to support ICE operations in the three states. “These service members, drawn from all components and operating in a Title 10 duty status, will provide logistical support, and conduct administrative and clerical functions associated with the processing of illegal aliens at ICE detention facilities,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a June 17 statement about the support. “They will not directly participate in law enforcement activities,” Parnell added. This comes as the U.S. job market continues to advance steadily despite media claims about ‘growing economic uncertainty’ and the supposed ‘impact’ of Trump’s tariffs. In June, the economy added a stronger-than-expected 147,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

June’s job gains exceeded the forecast of 117,500 and showed a decent increase from May’s total, which was revised upward by 5,000 jobs to 144,000. April’s gains were also revised higher by 11,000, reaching a net increase of 158,000 jobs. That in itself is a change from the Biden era, when the Labor Department routinely revised job numbers downward in the following months. The revisions, along with the data released on Thursday, indicate that the average job growth over the past three months is 150,000. “Stocks opened higher after the jobs report. The Dow rose 96 points, or 0.22%. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.6%,” CNN reported. Job Creators Network CEO Alfredo Ortiz praised Trump during an appearance on Fox Business Network on Thursday after the Labor Department released its figures. Hats off to President Trump because this three-legged stool of his has really been powerful: The trade, taxes, and deregulation together. It’s all about Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” he said. On his Truth Social page, Trump also posted a video of a Bloomberg report where the analyst said of the labor figures: “This is good news; much better than expected. … In our survey, economists were looking for [the unemployment rate] to climb up to 4.3 — It comes in at 4.1. Jobless claims — Much lower than expected.”