White House: National Guard part of Trump’s Mexico border strategy
President Donald Trump’s strategy for the Us-mexico border includes mobilizing the National Guard, the White House said on Tuesday, after Trump had earlier spoken publicly to reporters about “guarding our border with the military” to stop illegal immigrants.
The White House statement was released after Trump met with Defense Secretary James Mattis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other officials on border issues. It gave no details on whether or when Trump’s strategy might be implemented, Reuters reported.
The National Guard, part of the US military’s reserve forces, has been used in recent years for surveillance and intelligence on the border, but not direct law enforcement.
The president’s earlier remarks sharpened his recurring anti-immigration rhetoric. He said he wanted to deploy US military forces until his long-promised border wall is built.
“Until we can have a wall and proper security we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” Trump told reporters at the White House, lamenting what he called “horrible” US laws that left the southern border poorly protected.
Plans could cost lives
Advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, said in a statement that the proposed measures could put the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people in grave danger.
“Over the last few days, President Trump has openly dismissed the desperate situation of people fleeing violence and persecution who only want to find a safe place for themselves and their families. These proposed measures could put the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people in grave danger. Turning our backs on desperate families does not make anybody safer,” the official said, amnestyusa.org reported.
Trump railed against a “caravan” of Central American migrants travelling from the Mexico-guatemala border in the last 10 days toward the US, journeys that have occurred annually since 2010 in an effort to draw attention to the plight of people fleeing violence in their countries.
On Tuesday night, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Twitter that the caravan “dispersed gradually and at the decision of its participants.” Mexican officials say privately that they believe Trump has exaggerated the caravan’s importance to renew pressure on Mexico over the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Questions raised in Congress
His latest comments immediately raised questions in Congress and among legal experts about troop deployments on US soil.
The Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law on the books since the 1870s, restricts using the US Army and other main branches of the military for civilian law enforcement on US soil, unless specifically authorized by Congress.
But the military can provide support services to law enforcement and has done so on occasion since the 1980s.
Some specific statutes authorize the president to deploy troops within the United States for riot control or relief efforts after natural disasters.
“The details really matter here,” said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
“The real question is going to be if the president is serious about this, what kind of legal arguments do we get out of the White House and the Pentagon for such a deployment.”
A senior Republican aide in the US House of Representatives said key lawmakers had not been briefed on the White House plan. The aide said there was no indication that a specific plan had even been formulated yet. Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico’s ambassador in Washington, said he had spoken to US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about Trump’s remarks on the border and that Mexico had formally asked the US government to clarify them.
“It’s certainly not something that the Mexican government welcomes,” Gutierrez told CNN.
Some members of Congress said they were uncomfortable with the idea of using the military at the border.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said Trump should have to seek approval from Congress for any such troop deployment. “We should put that new law to a vote in the Senate,” he said on Twitter. “I predict fewer than 20 votes.”