5 questions about rocks and guns: NPR

President Trump reacted on Friday to criticism that he appeared to support US troops firing rock-throwing immigrants on the southwestern border.

"If our soldiers or our border patrol or ICE are hit in the face with stones, we will arrest these people – that does not mean shoot them," he told reporters in front of the White House. "But we will stop these people quickly and for a long time."

A day earlier, a journalist had asked a reporter if active-duty soldiers sent to the Mexican border shoot at migrants seeking asylum. President Trump said that he hoped not.

"But I will tell you this," he continued, "whoever throws stones, stones, as he did in Mexico – the Mexican army, the Mexican police – when -" they are seriously wounded by Mexican police and soldiers, we will consider this a firearm, there is not much difference when you are hit in the face by a rock. "

Trump's seemingly attenuated stance on stone throwers follows sharp criticism from veterans.

"It violates the rules of engagement for the fight" tweeted Charlotte Clymer, who identified herself as a veteran of the army infantry. General Martin Dempsey, former president of the Joint Chiefs, has retired. tweeted that "the unnecessary deployment of overworked soldiers and navies would be even worse if their use of force was disproportionate to the threat they were facing".

To which he added: "They will not do it."

Trump's deployment of thousands of soldiers on active duty at the border has raised a number of questions about the potential use of lethal force at the border.

1. Will the 15,000 active-duty soldiers sent to the border be armed with rifles?

Most of the people deployed as part of the Faithful Patriot operation, as the Pentagon has dubbed it as a group of forces at the border, must provide logistical or medical support to US Customs and Border Protection personnel in the area. border region. We do not know how many soldiers will carry weapons. But official statements suggest that at least some of them will be armed.

"Decisions concerning the arming of DoD personnel for self-defense purposes and the related rules on the use of force", reads a memorandum dated 25 October 2018 from the Department of Homeland Security of the United States. Pentagon, "will be informed by the circumstances of their missions and made by the DoD … and in consultation with CBP."

The memo, obtained by Newsweek, specifies that the troops "may carry out missions requiring direct contact with the migrants and / or the public", "which may require their armament".

DHS notes that the arming of such forces would be "at the discretion of the DoD".

"Secretary (Defense) (Jim) Mattis has given us authority," said Air Force General Terrence O. Shaughnessy, who heads the US Northern Command, which oversees all forces deployed. "The units that are normally assigned weapons actually deploy with weapons."

2. Will these soldiers face migrants and asylum seekers?

The DHS memo strongly suggests that troops could come into contact with those attempting to cross the border. A declaration of November 1, 2018 from US Northern Command does the same. He described Operation Fidele Patriot as "enhancing CBP's ability to prevent or deny illegal crossings." Half a dozen military police brigades, companies or battalions are among the units mobilized to support DHS.

3. Are federal troops not prohibited from operating on the national territory for the purposes of law enforcement?

In most cases, yes. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which had originally been enacted to prevent federal troops from exercising control over voting in the former Confederate States, restricted the use of the armed forces to enforce laws. But the law also provides an exception for cases "expressly authorized by the Constitution or the law of Congress".

Under the constitutional power of the president to suppress domestic violence, active military reservists or federated National Guard reservists may be exempted from the law.

The only violence cited by Trump to justify the militarization of the border is what he alleges to have taken place along the border between Mexico and Guatemala when the migrant caravan was confronted by the Mexican Federal Police at that time. border.

4. What rules will active troops use during their deployment at the border?

According to General O. Shaughnessy, no particular provision will govern these forces.

"The US military personnel on duty have been given very clear instructions," he told reporters on October 30. "These are the standard rules for the use of force."

Under the SRUF code, this code is known, the use of lethal force is justified "only when there is a reasonable belief that the subject of that force poses an imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm to a person ".

This does not necessarily mean that the gun is aimed at a soldier.

"A subject may present an imminent danger even if he does not point at that moment a weapon at a person," the code says, "if, for example, he has a weapon at hand or runs to Wear a gun or run to a place where the DoD armed person has reason to believe that a weapon is available. "

5. Would throwing stones be legally considered an "imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm?"

This issue remains to be resolved in a case pending before the United States Supreme Court. This is the fatal shooting in 2010 by a US border police officer of a 16-year-old Mexican boy who, he said, threw stones across the border. The suit for wrongful death brought by the boy's family against the agent was dismissed by two lower courts.

The Nigerian army, accused by Amnesty International of killing at least 40 protesters on Monday, sought to defend itself by showing a video clip of Trump warning that it would be considered throwing stones using a firearm. "Watch and make your deductions," tweeted the Nigerian army in a publication that was later deleted.