On Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to bring the military to the U.S.-Mexico border if immigration can’t be curbed.
“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump tweeted in the morning.
Trump, reports POLITICO, also suggested that trade deal recently ratified by the United States, Mexico and Canada could be endangered by undocumented aliens. The threats seem similar to those made by the commander-in-chief since he first took office at the beginning of 2017.
“The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA,” Trump wrote. “Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!”
Pentagon officials were purportedly unwilling to corroborate or comment on the president’s statements.
….The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
The National Guard has, at least in the past, been used to bolster Customs and Border Patrol services along the southern frontier. Military-grade equipment, including drones, are often used by reconnaissance teams to detect groups of undocumented immigrants plying their way through dirt and desert.
President Trump’s complaints come as a massive caravan of Honduran migrants is beginning to make its way north. They’re expected to pass through Guatemala and into Mexico before arriving at the border.
Along with threatening Mexico with the military, Trump’s promised to cut off aid to Honduras if its government can’t halt the convoy within its own territory.
Trump’s continued to place at least part of the blame on Democrats, who he maintains are responsible for the United States’ supposedly weak immigration laws.
“I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S.,” he said in his first tweet of the day.
Trump claims that other Latin American leaders have done little to stop illegal immigrants from making their way northward to the United States.
The United States has a long history of interference in Central America, having supported a series of coups and military regimes between Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras.
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have some of the highest homicide rates in the world, and are at the epicenter of the Central American gang crisis. Much of the region’s bloodshed is caused by members of the MS-13 organization, which was founded by deportees from Los Angeles and central California.
Sources
Trump threatens military action if Mexico doesn’t stop immigration ‘onslaught’
Trump threatens military closure of Southern border to block migrants
Trump Threatens To Order Military To ‘Close Our Southern Border’ Over Immigration
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