The U.S. military has received a request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for troops to be deployed to the U.S.–Mexico border, two U.S. officials said Oct. 25.
The military was examining the request that could require deploying between 800 and 1,000 active-duty troops to the border to assist with logistics and infrastructure, two officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
One official said that any troops deployed to the border would not be involved in “law enforcement” activities.
A federal law dating back to the 1870s restricts the use of the Army and other main branches of the military for civilian law enforcement on U.S. 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.
Caravan Emergency
On Oct. 22, Trump said he had alerted Border Patrol and the U.S. military that the migrant caravan was a national emergency.Trump has strongly opposed the illegal entry of migrants, both from the perspective of national security as well as national sovereignty.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055527191235227648
Some 5,300 migrants gathered in the southern Mexican town of Mapastepec on the night of Oct. 24, a town official said, though one of the activist speakers for the caravan said 11,000 gathered the day before in Huixtla, a town further south.
Organized
The caravan set off from Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Oct. 13. The main crowd appeared organized, with people in identical green reflective vests leading and corralling the group as it walked or was transported by vehicles along the way.While some locals appeared to have given rides to the migrants on small trucks, at least some of the migrants were transported part of the way in semi trucks. A video showed one of the organizers inviting the migrants into a semi truck in southern Mexico.
One of the caravan organizers is Bartolo Fuentes, a former lawmaker for the Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) party, which controls almost a quarter of the Honduran legislature and advocates socialism. Fuentes was detained in Guatemala and returned back to Honduras.
Stemming the Flow
In April, Trump ordered the National Guard to help secure the border in four southwestern states. There are about 2,000 National Guard troops along the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked the Trump administration to set up a “safe third country” agreement with Mexico. That would require “those seeking refugee status to make their claim in the first country of arrival,” meaning Central Americans would need to seek asylum in Mexico, instead of just traversing the country.
The safe third country agreement, the Senators argue, would also help alleviate the overburdened refugee system in the United States, where about 850,000 remain waiting for their asylum cases to be resolved.
Central American migrants commonly apply for asylum in the United States, but most aren’t eligible because they are simply seeking better living conditions rather than fleeing state persecution.
El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala all suffer from widespread poverty and high rates of violent crime; their murder rates are some of the highest in the world.