[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – President Trump is preparing to command at least 800 US Army troops to help secure the southern border, a Defense Department official said Thursday, stepping up efforts to prevent immigrants from entering the country. To enter the United States following the president's election campaign stir up fears of what he called a "attack" of migrants.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to sign documents as early as Thursday to send the troops. They will include engineers for the construction of tents and fences, doctors for medical support and, possibly, staff to operate drones along the border, said the official under the guise of anonymity, not being allowed to comment on the deployment before. it's finalized.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But Mr Trump has made it clear in recent days that he was angry and frustrated by the inability of his administration to tightly control the border between the United States and Mexico, while A large group of Central American migrants had gathered hundreds of miles to the south and headed north.
Mr Trump presented the mid-term legislative elections in two weeks as a referendum on the so-called caravan, which he blamed for the Democrats and described as a dangerous horde ready to invade the United States.
"I'm taking the army out for this national emergency," said the president said on Twitter Thursday. "They will be arrested!"
This is not the first time that Mr Trump is asking the army to secure the southern border. In April, when another caravan of migrants of this type began to make their way north, passing through Mexico, he asked US troops to stop the move, suggesting that he was not going to travel. he wanted armed troops on active service to do what the immigration authorities could not do. After discussions with Mr. Mattis and others, Mr. Trump requested that hundreds of National Guard personnel be mobilized to take on supportive roles.
The law generally prohibits active duty military personnel from performing national law enforcement duties, such as apprehending persons at the border. Officials said the deployment that Mattis is scheduled to sign Thursday would be legal, however, as troops would play a supporting role, instead of carrying out law enforcement or security duties. ;law application.
The military deployment is part of a multi-faceted effort that senior government officials have been privately discussing for weeks in an attempt to satisfy the president's call for more to secure the border. Kirstjen M. Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, who informed Mr. Trump of the caravan and data showing a clear increase in the number of apprehensions at the border over the past year, led the efforts.
According to several officials informed of the talks held under the guise of anonymity because they did not have the authorization to describe them, the other options at the table include making it more difficult to asylum application of migrants to the United States. Officials said they thought such a measure would deter migrants from traveling from Central America.
Two officials also said that Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut aid to Central American countries whose citizens are members of the caravan.
[ad_2]
Source link
