US troops deployed at the border are limited in their possibilities »Manila News Bulletin

By the Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) – The approximately 5,200 active-duty troops sent by President Donald Trump to the US-Mexico border will be limited by what they can do under a federal law that prevents them from entering Canada. army to engage in law enforcement on US soil.

This means that troops will not be allowed to detain immigrants, seize drugs from smugglers, or participate directly in the interception of a migrant caravan that is still about 1,000 miles away. border crossing point.

Instead, their role will largely reflect that of existing National Guard troops – approximately 2,000 in all – deployed at the border over the last six months, including providing helicopter support to border missions, installing concrete barriers and to repair and maintain vehicles. The new troops will include military police, combat engineers and helicopter companies equipped with the most advanced technologies to detect people at night.

The extraordinary military operation comes one week ahead of the mid-term elections on November 6, while Trump sought to turn fears about caravan and immigration into electoral gains. On Tuesday, he stepped up his warnings, calling the "gang of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America" ​​from invasion. "

"Our soldiers are waiting for you!" He tweeted.

R. Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017, said the army could not stop asylum seekers who came to the borders to seek protection, and that Border police officers had no difficulty in apprehending people who were crossing illegally.

"I see this as a political blow, a waste of military resources and a waste of tax dollars," said Kerlikowske, who was at the helm during a major wave of Central American migrants in 2014. "Use armed forces on active service and put them in this role, I think is a huge mistake. I see nothing more than praying for the mid-term elections organized by the president. "

Traveling mainly on foot, the caravan of some 4,000 migrants and a much smaller group of hundreds of others is still weeks, if not months, before reaching the US border. Thousands of people have already left the country, applied for refugee status in Mexico, or taken the Mexican government on free buses to return home, and the group is likely to shrink even further during the difficult journey. to come up.

Another smaller caravan, earlier this year, had only a few hundred people arriving at the Tijuana-San Diego crossing.

And despite the exacerbated rhetoric, the number of immigrants apprehended at the border is considerably lower than in previous years. Border Patrol officers this year made only a quarter of the arrests they made in 2000 at the height of illegal immigration, while the Agency had half of the staff available to it. today. Demographics have also changed drastically, mainly from Mexicans traveling alone to families in Central America with children.

Migrants arriving at the border will now see a significant military presence – more than double the 2,000 in Syria and fighting ISIS – even though their mission will be largely a support role.

This is because the military is bound by the Posse Comitatus Act, a nineteenth-century federal law that restricts participation in law enforcement activities. According to Scott R. Anderson of the Brookings Institution, military personnel can not have direct contact with civilians, including immigrants.

General Terrence O'Shaughnessy of the Air Force, head of the US Northern Command, said on Tuesday that at least 5,239 troops would be sent to the southwestern border as the Pentagon strives to meet the demands of the US Department of Defense. Homeland security.

"The 5,239 are going ahead and additional forces will be added to 5,239," he said, adding that this number "is not the top line".

When asked about the use of weapons, O'Shaughnessy replied that active-duty troops had received clear guidelines on the use of force and that there would be individual and unit training to ensure that they know what they can and can not do. As a rule, US troops are allowed to use force in self-defense.

Nevertheless, the deployment of large troops will be limited to support functions similar to those that Trump National Guard troops have already sent to the border.

These include 1,500 flying hours recorded by about 600 National Guard soldiers in Arizona since their deployment this spring. Guard members also repaired more than 1,000 Border Patrol vehicles and completed 1,000 hours of supply and inventory, according to Customs and Border Protection.

In one case, a group of border patrol officers who were looking for drug traffickers in the isolated Arizona desert in August had used a National Guard helicopter to monitor suspects and guide officers on the scene. ground until their arrest. This resulted in several arrests and the seizure of 465 pounds of marijuana.

O'Shaughnessy said there are already about 1,000 soldiers in Texas and that number is expected to reach at least 1,800, probably by Wednesday. Deployments in Arizona and California will follow. All are going to meet on bases in the states, and there are not any at the border yet, he said.

The reasons why the administration has decided to send troops on active service have still not been clearly defined, given that they will limit themselves to assuming the support functions that the Guard already exercises.

The California National Guard hired up to 400 soldiers in the president's border mission until March 31st. Jerry Brown, the only Democratic governor in the four bordering states of Mexico and a frequent critic of Trump, has made his support conditional on the troops having nothing to do with immigration. the application or construction of border barriers.

Brown said the California troops would help fight transnational criminal gangs and drug and firearms traffickers.

In New Mexico, 118 duty stations have been involved in vehicle maintenance and repair, cargo inspection, surveillance and communications.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott promised 400 soldiers at the border in April. Major General John Nichols, head of the Texas National Guard, told Congress in July that his troops had "various supportive roles," including driving vehicles, monitoring security, and keeping them safe. administration.