The Pentagon is sending troops to the southern border to assist in sealing off the country. The deployment comes just two days after Trump signed multiple executive orders related to troop presence at the border.
Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses is expected to sign an order on Wednesday, but the exact number of troops and which ones would be deployed is still unclear and could fluctuate.
Trump promised during the election campaign to send active-duty troops to the border. One of them declares a national emergency on the border to allow a greater military presence in the area.
Another authorized US Northern Command (Northcom) to draft a plan to send troops to the border, writing that the military must be present to respond to an “invasion.”
The executive order called for detailed operational plans expected in the coming days, but did not specify how many troops would be deployed.
Trump’s order could push the military beyond its role in assisting existing immigration agents, raising new legal questions.
Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said the measure deserved careful review.
“In this executive order, Trump appears to be bypassing the Insurrection Act and going straight to the president’s inherent constitutional authority to repel foreign invasions, with enormous implications for the use of force, cross-border operations, detention authority, etc.”, he wrote on the social platform
“Of course, illegal migration is not an ‘invasion’ in any legal sense. Using the powers of the commander in chief to conduct military operations against migrants would be a staggering abuse of power, even by Trump’s standards.
“The notion that illegal migration can and should be met with military force must be quickly condemned and discredited.”
Trump’s military-related orders come amid a series of executive actions related to immigration, including the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
