San Antonio Express-News: Trump orders the military to patrol the border
Central American migrants taking part in a caravan headed toward the United States line up for food at a sports field in Matias Romero, Mexico. VICTORIA RAZO/GETTY IMAGES
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he's preparing to send the military to guard parts of the border with Mexico, escalating his campaign against illegal immigration and his fight with Congress over funding the border wall.
The president, who has closely monitored conservative media accounts of a "caravan" of Central American migrants in Mexico, offered no details on what sort of military presence he wants or when troops might be deployed.
But seated next to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the White House, Trump said he had spoken with the retired Marine Corps general about "doing things militarily."
"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military. That's a big step. We really haven't done that before, or certainly not very much before," he said.
At a news conference later alongside Baltic leaders, the president referred again to the Central Americans that were moving north and to "horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States" on immigration, an offensive he has stepped up on his Twitter account since the weekend.
It was unclear from the remarks if the president had issued a firm policy directive to the Pentagon or whether sending troops to the border was something he simply was mulling while taking heat recently on immigration from elements of his base.
National Guard troops have periodically been deployed to the border by the federal and state governments, and serve only in support roles to immigration and law enforcement officers.
Today, the Texas National Guard maintains only a light footprint on the border, with 100 soldiers and airmen serving there at a cost of just under $1 million a month, said Lt. Col. Travis Walters, a spokesman based at Camp Mabry in Austin.
The president's demand for troops on the border drew immediate reactions from across the political landscape.
"It's just a really, bad, dangerous idea," said U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat running against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who was endorsed Tuesday by the national Border Patrol union.
"We do not want the military in our communities patrolling the border. We want the military being able to serve our country overseas, or at military installations like Fort Bliss or Fort Hood in Texas," O'Rourke added.
But Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick applauded the decision.
"Texas has added 500 additional troopers on the border and the Border Patrol has also increased manpower. Military troops can make an immediate difference in securing the border and help protect Texas communities and the rest of America," he said.
State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said Trump's position "further cements my frustration at the $800 million that the state of Texas is wasting on the border" that instead could be spent on education or infrastructure.
"How about the families of the men and women who are serving, who are spread so thin across the globe, and then ask them to go guard a border with not only one of our allies, but one of our strongest trading partners? It just seems so ignorant," said Menéndez, the son of immigrants — his mother from Mexico, and his late father from Cuba.
"It's another example of the fact that we have a showman, a celebrity, a reality star in the White House who is playing a role that he just doesn't know how to play. He lacks the skills to be a statesman or even a politician," he said.
The president has embraced the conservative media portrayal of the migration north of Hondurans and others from Central Americans as an effort to flout American immigration laws. The annual protest, which drew more participants this year, is led by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which translates to "People Without Borders."
Mexican immigration officials this week began registering the migrants, many fleeing turbulent political and economic conditions. Some may qualify for humanitarian visas and or temporary permits to remain in Mexico, Mexican officials said, and some were deported.
The president has stewed over immigration matters since Congress last month approved just $1.6 billion of the $25 billion he wants for the border wall, stipulating that much of the money was for fencing and imposing restrictions.
But his repeated assertions of a border out of control conflict with a long trend of declining immigration. Apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants on the Southern border have declined from a peak of 1.6 million in 2000, to about 304,000 last year.
The president's intentions are unclear, and perhaps in their infancy, but the use of National Guard troops on the border is not new and generates debate over legalities.
The Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from civilian policing, including "search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity" while supporting civilian law enforcement.
In 2006, President George W. Bush announced the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to support the Border Patrol, and between 2006 and summer 2008, some 30,000 Guard members took part in what was called Operation Jump Start.
The Guard units, under control of border state governors, took part in engineering, aviation, border entry identification teams and support activities other than what is deemed law enforcement.
In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry ordered 604 Texas Guard troops working in "security platoons" to patrol the Rio Grande as part of what was described by state officials at the time as a "rolling surge." More than 6,800 people in all were involved in that operation, with personnel coming from the Texas Guard, police departments, sheriffs' officers, the Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Coast Guard
In 2010, President Barack Obama, although referring to immigration as "inherently the job of the federal government," announced 1,200 National Guard troops would be deployed to assist the Border Patrol. Then last year, the Trump administration considered mobilizing 100,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea that was quickly disavowed, according to a draft internal document obtained by the Associated Press.
The president's declaration is certain to roil Congress. Texas reaction to the idea was either muted or split along party lines, with the most strenuous objections coming from some border district Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, remarked: "What the president fails to understand is that deploying troops to secure a border and constructing a 14th-century concrete wall, are outdated and inadequate answers to protecting our nation's borders."
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio and a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asserted that we shouldn't turn border communities into "militarized zones. In fact, using military troops for that purpose may violate the Posse Comitatus Act. President Trump should let Border Patrol do its job and let our military service members focus on the important duties they signed up for."
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio, said that, like holding a military parade in Washington, sending troops to the border diverts the military from its missions.
"Ignoring the law, the cost to taxpayers, and umpteen campaign promises, Trump's effort to militarize our border is just another of his bad border ideas," Doggett said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, a Brownsville Democrat, had harsher words for the president.
"Trump is a racist and an idiot," Vela said. "Mexico is an ally, not an enemy."
In Houston, U.S. Rep. Gene Green, a Democrat, also spoke out against the idea.
"President Trump's plan to deploy troops along the Rio Grande will likely harm our state's border communities and turn immigrants seeking safety and a better life into the enemy," he said.
Many Republicans in Congress, taken by surprise, remained silent on the president's comments, noting they fell short of a fully-developed plan.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a Houston-area Republican, who gave partial support to Trump's idea, called instead for the National Guard to be deployed to the border upon the request of state governors.
"Protecting American sovereignty and the American people is a constitutional requirement of the federal government," Poe said.
Staff Writers Peggy Fikac and Sig Christenson contributed to this report.