US Troop Deployment at the Mexican border!
Washington, Jan 22 (EFE).-
The United States government on Wednesday began the deployment of some 1,500 soldiers on the Mexico border in the first step of President Donald Trump’s promise to “close” the passage of migrants and reinforce border security.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president signed the executive order for the deployment on Monday and the Pentagon later confirmed it had mobilized to comply with it.
Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said on Wednesday that he has authorized three actions.
First, the sending of these troops and helicopters and their respective personnel, as well as intelligence analysts to help in detection and control tasks. According to their figures, this represents a 60 percent increase in the number of active ground forces since Trump took office on Monday.
The Pentagon will also provide military airlift to support deportation flights for more than 5,000 “illegal aliens” detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the statement, will be in charge of enforcing inflight law and the State Department “will obtain the requisite diplomatic clearances and provide host-nation notification.”
Thirdly, the Pentagon added that it will be “assisting in the construction of temporary and permanent physical barriers.”
“This is just the beginning,” the acting secretary of defense stressed in the statement.
“President Trump directed action from the Department of Defense on securing our nation’s borders and made clear he expects immediate results. That is exactly what our military is doing under his leadership,” Salesses said.
The 1,500 troops will join the 2,200 active-duty soldiers and 4,500 Texas National Guard reservists already deployed on the border.
According to CNN, the new troops will perform similar functions to those of the troops already present, focusing on supporting the CBP with logistical and administrative tasks, such as vehicle maintenance and data entry.
During his first term, Trump ordered the dispatch of 5,200 troops to the border with Mexico.
On Monday, hours after reassuming the presidency, he signed an executive order instructing the Pentagon to mobilize the necessary troops to achieve “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”
The order also states that in the next 90 days Trump will evaluate the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which would allow the military to assume law enforcement functions within the country, in a role closer to that currently performed by security forces.
Currently, the troops deployed on the border are not authorized to carry out police tasks, such as arresting migrants or seizing drugs. Laws such as the Posse Comitatus of 1878 prohibit the armed forces from acting as police on national territory. EFE
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