Trump Says as Many as 4,000 National Guard Soldiers Will Be Deployed to the Border
Francesca Chambers, Daily Mail, 5 April 2018
President Donald Trump says he’s planning a large-scale deployment of National Guard troops.
Trump told reporters during a question and answer session on Air Force One that the deployment would be comprised of anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 soldiers, making it at least twice the size of an Obama-era task force but far smaller than a similar operation authorized by George W. Bush.
The president said he’ll ‘probably keep them or a large portion of them’ until his the border wall he’s demanding funds for is built.
Congress has resisted offering him the entire pot of money he requested, and it remains unclear how he plans to fund his troop deployment.
He said it’s something his administration is ‘looking at’ in his conversation with reporters.
Earlier today on Twitter, Trump rebutted critics who say his National Guard deployment is unnecessary.
Trump also argued in the morning tweet that the level of illegal traffic on America’s southern border is ‘UNACCEPTABLE,’ regardless of the fact that it’s at a 46-year-low, thanks to his administration.
He also gave Mexico a rare pat on the back for taking a wrecking ball to a caravan of 1,200 migrants that was headed to the U.S. after news reports indicated that just 200 from the original group would journey ahead.
‘The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border,’ he celebrated.
Trump’s DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen admitted shortly after in an appearance on Fox & Friends that the annual caravan typically dissipates before it reaches the border the United States shares with Mexico.
‘But having said that,’ she asserted, ‘we have seen more cooperation from Mexican officials than we ever have before on this particular caravan thanks to the president’s leadership.’
Trump yesterday signed a proclamation authorizing a National Guard deployment on the southern border in response to the caravan.
The deployment was to begin immediately, his Homeland Security secretary said, and has no definite end.
Read the rest at American Renaissance.
