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By Courtney Kube and Julia Ainsley
WASHINGTON – When some of the key national security advisers to President Donald Trump met at the White House Tuesday night to talk about the influx of immigrants across the southern border, they discussed the issue. 39, increased US military involvement in the border mission, particularly to determine if the army could be used to build migrant detention camps in the tent city, according to three officials Americans aware of conversations.
During the meeting, officials also discussed whether the US military could legally run the camps once the migrants are there. This decision, according to the three officials, was very unlikely, because the US law forbids the army to interact directly with migrants. The law has been a major constraint for Trump, who wants to engage troops in his mission to strengthen immigration.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was at the White House meeting Tuesday night and was willing to send more US troops to support the border mission, as long as their assigned mission is in accordance with the law, according to the three US officials.
Thousands of soldiers are currently deployed along the southern border and are mainly used to reinforce existing fences with barbed wire.
According to the three officials – two from the Pentagon and one from Homeland Security – potential new projects for the troops mentioned on Tuesday, they also had to conduct field assessments before the construction of new tent cities in El Paso and Donna, Texas. . They will also be used in assessments before the construction of a new central treatment center for migrants in El Paso, said the DHS official.
The creation of the treatment center was announced last month. It is designed to temporarily hold arriving immigrants, many of whom are released to El Paso due to lack of detention space.
The treatment center will be similar to the one currently used in McAllen, Texas, where children were kept in chain-link areas, called some "cages," while the Trump administration family separation policy was in last summer, according to two Border Protection Officers.
Tent cities would welcome immigrants while detention facilities for the enforcement of the Customs and Immigration Act would continue to operate. The Obama administration also used tents to hold immigrants in Donna, Texas, in 2016.
The idea was the subject of planning meetings held this week at DHS, said one of the officials.
Discussions this week at the White House meeting and later included the suggestion that troops would be needed to manage the tent city's detention camps once the immigrants are housed there, according to the reports. American authorities aware of the conversations.
The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of federal law enforcement troops in the United States, which prevents them from interacting directly with immigrants who come to the country. A US official said the recent meetings had focused on whether the use of active service troops to run a detention camp would be a violation of Posse Comitatus.
Although there has been talk of an increase in the number of staff, no specific figure has been mentioned, and officials do not expect a new contingent to be needed for a new mission.
A US Border Patrol official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military allowed for faster construction than private contractors, who could challenge decisions and slow down the process.
"The importance of DOD is that they are able to mobilize quickly because we are facing an immediate crisis," said the border patrol leader.
To quote an example of the crisis, a border patrol official said on Tuesday that 253 Central Americans, mostly families, were arrested in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Large groups represent a challenge for border officers who have to deal with, host and often find medical care for immigrants.
The border patrol official said he was unaware of the intention to use troops to run detention centers for migrants and that he would violate US law.
The meeting at the White House was just two days after Trump tweeted that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was leaving and that Kevin McAleenan, the CBP Commissioner, would replace her as interim secretary. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Claire Grady also resigned.
On Wednesday, during a visit to Texas, Trump spoke of the increase in the number of US troops assigned to the border mission and alluded to the limitations on the use of active service troops in that country.
"I'm going to have to call on more soldiers, our soldiers, let's not forget, can not act like soldiers, because if they get a bit difficult, everyone will go crazy …" our soldiers may not act as they would normally … They have all these horrible laws that the Democrats will not change, they will not change them. "
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, spokesman for the Department of Defense, said: "As we said last year when we were looking at possible facilities at Fort Bliss and at the Goodfellow Air Base, the DOD could be involved in the eventual construction immigrants.There is currently no new request for help. "
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