As I said elsewhere, since the President has said clearly, over and over again, that this is a serious military threat to the US, justifying deployment of 15,000 soldiers to the border, why wouldn’t the commander in chief solve the problem with a simple alternative measure - just sanction Mexico severely unless it uses its own security forces to disperse and deport the caravan people? It’s simple, the US can exert enormous economic and diplomatic power over Mexico. Something as simple as a tariff on Mexican goods would be enough to make them do this. Why would any competent commander in chief deploy his own army assets, to sit and wait for 2 months at the border, for the bedraggled invasion horde to show up? It could easily be fixed by just making Mexico disperse the crowds right now. This could be done today.
The answer must be because this is a false flag operation created by Republicans. The only other answer is that Trump is a totally incompetent commander in chief and cant solve a simple problem like a crowd rushing a gate.
This might be a greater possibility once the new president-elect of Mexico is seated on Dec. 1. Until then, the current president of Mexico really doesn’t have to be concerned with implications of his own actions or inactions when it comes to this problem of the hoards traversing Mexico. I agree with the tariff solution, not to exclude the possibility that the border security may still be an issue since Mexico will not likely be 100% effective even if they did deploy their own Mexican military. Also, the military assets begin deployed at the Mexican border are not being pulled from some other threat to the US at some other “war.” Remember that no matter where military assets are stationed, including bases, there are cooks, maintenance persons, and others that act to support that population of military. Therefore, placing them at the border is not much more than a military exercise that would be done routinely to condition troops to perform their support functions in a real theatre of operations as opposed to a base with running water, electricity, and other services that they will not find if they are ever deployed. Therefore, the deployment is not detracting from normal military operations and may actually serve as an exercise that hardens them a bit more than if they didn’t participate. That said, I am all for the tariff ideas once they can have greater impact on the newly elected president of Mexico.
The President is handling this correctly. They can sit in their tents as long as they wan’t, have their asylum requests reviewed and mostly rejected (how many are really targeted by their government for persecution) and go back and tell the next would be group of illegals that it really just isn’t worth it, and they might as well apply the legal route.
They will soon find out since the election is next Tuesday. If POTUS disbands the effort and doesn’t add to troops or removes them, then one will be able to say it was motivated by the election. On the other hand, if the military effort continues then it isn’t a stunt; it might be possible that the timing of it is related to the election date, but then again, it is possible that some of the Caravan who may have taken a train or vehicle part of the way could be arriving as soon as next week. So it is hard to say whether the timing may be have been necessary in spite of an election soon to be held.
posse comitatus does not apply to the US Coast Guard and that was before it moved from under the Pentagon to the Dept of HLS. Also, posse comitatus refers to the enforcement of laws against Citizens of the US such that a Federal oppression could not usurp power over local law enforcement and local governing authorities in the states; a states rights issue that goes back to the origins of the Constitution in that the Founders feared a powerful Federal Gov’t that might act as a “King” that they had revolted against. The use of the military and especially the Coast Guard either acting as the Coast Guard or if reassigned to the Border Patrol is a legitimate use under Article II. Also, a fair amount of our border with Mexico is along the Rio Grande, which even further can be defined as a place in which the Coast Guard is appropriate; however, the presence of water is not a requirement for the Coast Guard since they can operate on land or sea just as they patrolled the beaches and shore communities during WWII.
So the reassignment of Coast Guard (Military under HLS) is not necessary for the Coast Guard to enforce US Laws, but it would create a single point of authority to command the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard as opposed to have multiple forces which will need coordination. In fact, because Border Patrol was part of HLS is why the Coast Guard was moved under the HLS’s authority - they both protect the US sovereign territory boundaries and both can be used to enforce US laws.
If there were a budget issue, you must remember that we currently are at the beginning of the budget year. As per actions taken buy the Obama Admin., budgets can be fluid between departments and reconciled by Congress at a future date if needed. In this case though, the Coast Guard already falls under HLS along with Border Patrol so the budget acrobatics that Obama pulled from time to time will not even be necessary. The Coast Guard and Border Patrol budgets come from HLS Budget.
I think that it is a good strategy. I think that if he is going to deploy military it should be Coast Guard who can enforce US Laws (especially against foreigners) and is charged the duty of protecting the US sovereign borders along with other HLS persons.
OK, so your response to this is: (1) The Mexican president is a lame duck, so tariffs have no impact on Mexico, and (2) sending 15,000 soldiers from our professional military will be a good training exercise, and they are not doing anything better right now.
With respect, that’s insane. First, tariffs are just one way to exert non-military persuasion. Given that Mexico is so weak compared to the US, there are many, many ways that they can be compelled to act on the caravan TODAY. Since the President has already clearly stated that this is a grave threat to US security, worthy of an armed response by thousands of our soldiers, then clearly an extreme economic or diplomatic response is warranted RIGHT NOW. This is not only tactically correct (i.e., why wait for your enemy to show up on your doorstep if you can eliminate it thousands of miles before it arrives there), it is much more fiscally responsible, since the cost of deploying 15,000 soldiers is likely to reach over $1 billion.
As I said, Trump is either a complete idiot, or this is a manufactured FALSE FLAG crisis created by the Republicans. Though Trump is definitely the least qualified person ever to hold the office of President, the truth is more likely the latter. Shame on you for falling for it.
