President Trump Sending Troops To Help Secure Border
President Trump Sending Troops To Help Secure Border
Troops could already be on the way
Troops could already be on the way
WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen first announced the move for troops on the border would be coming from the White House podium Wednesday afternoon during the daily briefing.
President Trump had stated that he would send the military to the border. Both President Bush and Obama also made such moves during their terms in office. This followed days of public fuming by Mr. Trump about immigration policy, during which he has tweeted about immigration legislation in Congress, a caravan of migrants making its way through Mexico and what he calls weak border laws.
Border crossing numbers have been historically low and a study from the Department of Homeland Security last fall determined the border was at its most secure and most impervious to illegal immigration point in history -- though numbers released by the DHS late Wednesday showed a sudden spike in attempted crossings last month.
The memo instructed the two secretaries and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put together a report within 30 days on further steps the administration can take to combat what it called a "crisis" and "a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border."
Nielsen stated that troops could be sent to the border as soon as Wednesday night. "It does mean that," Nielsen said when asked about how quickly this could be implemented. "It also means we will do it in conjunction with the governors."
The DHS has not asked for specific numbers but rather presented the National Guard with the "mission" that Customs and Border Protection would need support on, leaving it up to the Guard to determine what kind of deployment would meet that goal.
Nielsen added that she didn't want to "get ahead" of the state governors who will have a heavy say in the deployment of troops, but said it would be similar to past such efforts. "It will be strong. It will be as many as needed to fill the gaps today," she said.