US military sends troops to Mexico border amid Trump immigration crackdown

The deployment is portion of Trump’s enforcement enactment to state a ‘national emergency’ astatine the US’s confederate border.

The United States subject has started to nonstop 1,500 active-duty troops to the country’s confederate borderline with Mexico, arsenic portion of President Donald Trump’s long-promised crackdown connected immigration.

The White House confirmed the unit question connected Wednesday, though the afloat details of the bid person yet to beryllium released.

Officials told US media that the work members progressive included 500 marines. They are not expected to behaviour instrumentality enforcement duties arsenic portion of their relation astatine the border.

The unit deployment was wide expected, arsenic migration had been a hallmark of Trump’s run for a 2nd term.

Shortly aft helium was sworn successful connected Monday, the Republican person signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” astatine the border, repeating immoderate of the heated rhetoric helium had delivered connected the run trail.

“America’s sovereignty is nether attack,” the enforcement bid said. “This penetration has caused wide chaos and suffering successful our state implicit the past 4 years.”

The bid included provisions for the deployment of equipped forces “to enactment the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security successful obtaining implicit operational power of the confederate border”.

It besides called for further carnal barriers to beryllium erected, arsenic good arsenic the usage of unmanned aerial surveillance.

Trump’s communications squad rapidly hailed Wednesday’s unit deployment arsenic a fulfilment of his election-season promise.

“This is thing President Trump campaigned on,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House property secretary.

“The American radical person been waiting for specified a clip arsenic this – for our Department of Defense to really instrumentality homeland information seriously.”

An estimated 2,500 US National Guard members and reserve troops are already astatine the border.

In addition, US Customs and Border Protection employs much than 45,000 people. As of fiscal twelvemonth 2023, 19,104 of those employees served arsenic borderline patrol agents to unafraid the areas betwixt authoritative ports of entry.

Immigration advocates, however, fearfulness an accrued subject beingness astatine the borderline could discourage morganatic asylum claims oregon pb to the usage of subject tactics connected civilians.

But Trump has argued that a subject effect is needed fixed the rates of irregular introduction into the US.

He has besides regularly conflated migration with accrued crime, thing not borne retired by statistics. Studies person repeatedly shown that undocumented radical successful the US perpetrate crimes astatine a overmuch little complaint than US-born citizens, including convulsive crimes.

Still, Trump has utilized examples similar that of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, to beforehand his proposals.

In February 2024, Riley was killed portion jogging astatine the University of Georgia, and an undocumented Venezuelan antheral was yet recovered blameworthy of her murder.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, named successful her honour.

It requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immoderate undocumented idiosyncratic arrested oregon charged with a transgression similar theft oregon robbery. Having already passed the Senate, the measure present proceeds to Trump’s desk, wherever helium is expected to motion it. It volition beryllium the archetypal large authorities of his administration.

But quality rights advocates pass the measure could interruption defendants’ owed process, arsenic those taxable to the instrumentality request lone beryllium accused, not convicted, of a crime.

Source

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies