Lawmakers Vow to Block Use of Training Ship Golden Bear for Deportations

Two California lawmakers are demanding that the Trump administration abandon reported plans to use ships for mass deportations, including the former Cal Poly Maritime Academy training vessel Golden Bear.

Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin opposing the proposal, warning that deportations by sea would present major operational, safety and legal challenges while costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

The letter follows an October 8 report by The New York Times that the administration was considering using ships to transport migrants to Central and South America. The discussions reportedly included the 500-foot Golden Bear, as well as ferries and potentially other vessels.

The proposal remains preliminary, and no decision has been announced to use the Golden Bear or any other ship for deportations.

“Mark my words, Donald Trump, Markwayne Mullin, and ICE will never use the Golden Bear for their mass deportation agenda,” Garamendi said in an October 28 statement.

“Not only is deporting migrants by ship impractical, but it’s also deeply inhumane,” he added.

The Golden Bear recently completed its final training voyage after 30 years of service at the California maritime academy. The vessel, originally built as the U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury, has been used to provide hands-on training for generations of merchant marine officers.

The ship is now being retired from academy service and returned to the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), making its potential availability for another federal mission a point of contention.

Cal Poly Maritime Academy is awaiting its replacement training vessel, Golden State, part of MARAD’s National Security Multi-Mission Vessel program.

According to the Times, the administration has also explored obtaining other vessels, including ships based in Europe, for possible deportation operations.

The proposed voyages could take several days to reach destinations such as El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, compared with hours by air. They would also require substantial security personnel and arrangements for housing, feeding and supervising migrants throughout the passage.

The lawmakers warned that those requirements could drive costs into the millions of dollars per voyage. Questions also remain about the legal authority to conduct such operations and the conditions under which migrants would be held aboard ships.

Carbajal, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, warned that using vessels for immigration detention could create additional oversight problems.

“ICE already operates without sufficient transparency or public accountability, and deploying maritime vessels as floating prisons will only open the door to potentially more abuses,” Carbajal said.

The dispute also raises questions about diverting federal maritime assets and resources toward immigration enforcement.

Garamendi argued that the administration’s previous use of military resources for deportation operations has already affected military readiness and warned that using ships could similarly strain U.S. sealift capabilities.

Both lawmakers have previously challenged the administration’s use of military facilities, personnel and aircraft for immigration enforcement, including deportation flights from Travis Air Force Base in California.

For now, there is no indication that the Golden Bear has been formally assigned to a deportation mission or that any maritime deportation operations have been authorized. But Garamendi pledged to use congressional oversight to prevent the ship from being used for that purpose.

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