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WASHINGTON – More than 5,000 serving army troops will be deployed to the southern border by the end of the week, Defense Department officials said Monday. Climbing of a mid-term election protest against a caravan of Central American migrants. characterized as an "invasion of our country".
The rally of American troops comes as Trump seized the caravan as a closing political message the last week before the mid-session, warning coyly – and without any evidence – that the people of the "Middle East" East "are part of a dangerous group of migrants threatening to rush into communities here.
But the caravan, which went from 7,000 to less than 3,500 people, is still in a few weeks to reach the United States. The rare use of active duty armed forces to reinforce Mr. Trump's campaign message has heightened criticism that the president uses the military for political purposes.
"We use the troops as props," said Jason Dempsey, an army infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, who is now an assistant research fellow at the Center for New American Security. "We use a group of people to waste their time supporting the border patrol."
Strengthening the military is the culmination of Trump's efforts in recent weeks to appeal to his most ardent supporters and to bring the caravan of migrants to the attention of the nation.
"Many gang members and very bad people mingle with the caravan heading for our southern border" the president wrote Monday on Twitter. "Please, go back, you will not be admitted to the United States unless you go through the legal process. It's an invasion of our country and our military are waiting for you! "
Trump has repeatedly quoted reports on Fox News as evidence of the growing threat, although some commentators on Trump's favorite television channel have questioned the need for such an aggressive military response against the caravan. .
"Tomorrow, it's a week before the election, that's what it's all about," Shepard Smith, a Fox News presenter, said on Monday. "There is no invasion. Nobody comes to get you. There is nothing to fear.
He added, "We are America. We can deal with it.
Kevin Appleby of the Center for Migration Studies criticized Trump's decision to send troops, saying it was a weakness rather than a force.
"The deployment by the world's most powerful military president against a band of vulnerable asylum seekers is embarrassing," said Mr Appleby.
The president's tweet on Monday and the subsequent announcement of the troops made it clear that the White House would not be deterred from focusing on the caravan, even after the murder suspect of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh accused Jews of He orchestrated the caravan to bring in "invaders" who would kill his people.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press Secretary, angrily rejected Monday the link between the President's messages on the caravan and Saturday killings at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a community in Pittsburgh.
"The first thing the president did was to condemn these heinous acts," she said. "The very first thing the media did was to blame the president."
Trump has been studying options for several weeks and is expected to soon take steps to ban entry to the American continent, including for asylum seekers. Active military units will join Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops already assembled along the border in Texas, Arizona and California.
Military and border authorities said that an initial group of 800 soldiers was already heading to Texas from Fort Campbell and Fort Knox as part of what the Pentagon calls the Faithful Patriot operation. General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, commander of the United States Northern Command, said the soldiers would be joined by several thousand more soldiers to toughen the border.
"The president has made it clear that border security is national security," said General O'Shaughnessy.
If the caravan follows the pattern of previous migrant groups, it is likely to shrink even more in the coming weeks, leaving it neglected in the face of the gathering of armed soldiers.
The military and border authorities insisted Monday to consider the caravan a serious threat and to indicate signs that more groups of migrants were forming.
"We need to be ready for the potential arrival of a very large group," said Kevin K. McAleenan, Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection. "We will not allow a large group to enter the United States in a dangerous and illegal manner."
Mr. McAleenan described a significant increase in border patrol resources in recent days. More than 1,000 additional officers have flocked to the area, including those with tactical riot control experience. He added that the Border Patrol had deployed Black Hawk helicopters and other equipment to react quickly to the arrival of migrants.
But he added that the armed forces were deployed because border patrol agents, backed by about 2,000 National Guard soldiers, may not be enough to repel men, women and children who are heading to the border. United States.
Once fully deployed, active duty troops will include engineers who can help erect physical barriers to retaining migrants, officials said. There will also be helicopter and aircraft units to transport border patrol officers, medical support personnel and planning teams that will help coordinate the influx of forces.
General O'Shaughnessy stated that the new forces would be armed and operate under the same legal authorities as the National Guard troops already at the border.
The US-Mexico war in the mid-1800s sent a considerable number of soldiers to the border, and the army remained there for decades. For more than 60 years, the US military has maintained its outposts along the long border with Mexico, according to a military border story published by the Combat Studies Institute Press in Fort Leavenworth.
Trump's decision to send military forces to the border is a rare use of the armed forces over the last four decades. In the late 1980s, the Department of Defense sent soldiers and reservists on active service to the border as part of an effort to counter the flow of illicit drugs from Mexico. The army provided similar support services during this mission.
Since then, Trump's predecessors have relied heavily on Southern governors to call the National Guard in response to the increased flow of immigrants, firearms and drugs from Mexico to the United States. United States.
Mr. Trump is on the verge of breaking this tradition by fully embracing the power of the military, both as a foolproof deterrent and as an amplification of the real world of border patrol agents who are already seeking to prevent illegal immigration.
In a tweet from last week – one of several in which he embraced the power of the military – Mr Trump accused the Democrats of not having supported stricter border laws. He promised to use his power as commander-in-chief to respond to what he sees as a serious threat to the United States.
"Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council is right when he says on @foxandfriends that the laws inspired by the Democrats prevent us from arresting people on the border ", the president wrote.
At the same time, he added, "I am bringing the army for this national emergency. They will be arrested!
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