by Mish Shedlock, The Maven:
On Monday, Trump announced he would send US troops to the Mexican border to stop a caravan of migrants walking to the US from Honduras.
On Friday, Defense Secretary James Mattis authorized the deployment of more troops to the US-Mexico border.
Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 October 2018
There’s a law that dates back more than a century known as “posse comitatus” that bars active-duty US troops from domestic law enforcement without authorization. Other laws and regulations have further clarified that troops can’t participate in activities such as making arrests and conducting searches, according to a Congressional Research Service analysis.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told Fox News on Friday that the military has “no intention” of shooting at anyone in the caravan, but she noted that officers of her agency and troops alike have the right to defend themselves.
What the Troops Cannot Do
- Arrest people
- Seize drugs
- Conduct searches
What the Troops Can Do
- Planning assistance
- Provide engineering support with temporary barriers, barricades and fencing
- Provide aviation support to move US Customs and Border Protection personnel
- Provide medical teams to triage, treat and prepare for commercial transport of patients
- Operate command control facilities
- Erect temporary housing and provide personal protective equipment for CBP personnel
Past presidents haven’t tested these boundaries and therefore courts haven’t weighed in. The Trump administration so far has avoided questions about how exactly it interprets these restrictions.
A separate administration official on Friday told CNN that based on items laid out in a request from the Department of Homeland Security, the request would likely result in more than 1,000 troops being sent, but there’s a likelihood that number could eventually be pared back.
- Number of troops
- Whether the troops are armed
- Criteria in which they can use their weapons
- Cost
- Who’s paying the bill
“The Mattis Touch”
Welcome to the world of Jim Mattis, the man whose job it is to turn President Trump’s impulsive orders into something the military is happy to salute.
The latest edict: Trump’s order to send active-duty troops to the Mexico border to repel the coming “onslaught” of Central American refugees seeking asylum in the United States.
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