Border deployment will be scrutinized by incoming Democrats
WASHINGTON — Incoming Democrats with significant national security experience plan to challenge President Donald Trump over orders he has issued as commander in chief, starting with his controversial military deployment to the southern border to face down migrants seeking refuge in the United States.
At least nine Democrats newly elected to the House have served in the armed forces, intelligence services or other roles at the State and Defense departments — credentials, several said, that give them greater authority than Democrats have had lately to scrutinize Trump’s use of the military for what they call partisan aims.
Shortly before the midterm elections, Trump announced plans to send up to 15,000 troops as a show of force against the caravans of Central American migrants traveling north to the U.S. border. House Democrats, who assume the majority in January, plan to investigate whether the order was a waste of resources.
According to several current and future members of Congress, the incoming veterans and former diplomats are expected to play an important role in advancing that probe and others expected to focus on military affairs.
“You just have so many more Democrats now who have credibility on national security issues,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a Marine Corps veteran who spent the past year urging others with military backgrounds to seek office. “Now we have these amazing veterans who can take on these issues.”
For some, the issue is one of respecting the troops. In their estimation, Trump has failed on that score, despite his professed reverence for the military.
“He likes to pound his chest and talk tough, but he has not served our nation in uniform,” Colorado congressman-elect Jason Crow said in an interview, noting that many troops sent to the border have already logged multiple combat deployments. “… They’re going to be spending yet another holiday away from their families in tents without running water.”
Others questioned the logic of using an already overextended military to meet civilian migrants, most of whom are fleeing countries plagued by violence and poverty. A congressionally mandated study determined that the military power of rival nations, including China and Russia, could soon eclipse that of the United States unless more strategic investments are made.
“We’re burdening them over and over again, and I want to know why this is the right thing to do,” said New Jersey Congressman-elect Andy Kim, a veteran of former President Barack Obama’s Defense Department and the National Security Agency. Kim said Congress should determine whether Trump had announced the deployment as a political ploy.
“I don’t want to see an ounce of politics when it comes to our troops,” Kim said.
Incoming lawmakers also listed the war in Syria, the mission in Afghanistan, and the perennial debate over a new authorization for military force as other areas where they would investigate Trump’s policies and military commitments.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who is expected to take over as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has suggested that Democrats would challenge Trump’s plans to augment spending on nuclear weapons and to establish a Space Force, and scrutinize his attempt to ban transgender troops from serving in the military.
But it’s the president’s caravan response that has emerged as a lightning rod for critics of both Trump’s military policy and his social policies — and the more Trump attempts to justify it, the more resolved Democrats appear to challenge it.