Pentagon to deploy additional troops to US-Mexico border, bringing the total to 3,600
Updated: 3:00 PM CST Feb 7, 2025
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LAUNCHED A RAPID PACED IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN. DENVER, CHICAGO, NEW YORK, MIAMI THE LIST OF CITIES WHERE FEDERAL AGENTS ARE CARRYING OUT RAIDS GROWS NEARLY EVERY DAY. THE IMAGES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND BODY ARMOR ESCORTING HANDCUFFED PEOPLE, FLOODING SOCIAL MEDIA. BUT WHATāS PERHAPS MOST CONSEQUENTIAL IS LANGUAGE IN THE ADMINISTRATIONāS EXECUTIVE ORDERS. ITāS VERY INTENTIONAL USE OF SPECIFIC WORDS THAT CARRY GREAT POWER AND AUTHORITY FOR THE PRESIDENT. ERNESTO CASTANEDA IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINO STUDIES AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. ITāS SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK, SIR. THANK YOU SO MUCH, SOLEDAD. WHEN YOU LOOK SPECIFICALLY AT THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS PROTECTING THE UNITED STATES FROM FOREIGN TERRORISTS AND OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS, WHATāS THE IMPACT OF THE WORD TERROR AND TERRORIST? SO TERRORISM IS SOMETHING THAT WE KNOW BY EXPERIENCE. WE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS VERY WELL. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT ORGANIZED CRIME BASED IN IN MEXICO AND LATIN AMERICA ARE DOING. PEOPLE DO LOSE THEIR LIVES. BUT THE AIM OF THE ORGANIZED CRIME IS NOT TO TAKE OVER ANY ONE GOVERNMENT HERE OR THERE. SO THEREFORE ITāS A MISNOMER TO CALL THIS HORRIBLE ORGANIZATIONS TO CALL THEM TERRORISTS. BUT FOR PEOPLE ALREADY HERE WITH THIS DESIGNATION OF PEOPLE AS COMING OR COMING FROM PLACES WHERE THEREāS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS, THEN ITāS EASIER TO DETAIN, TO STOP, TO IMPRISON AND TO DEPORT PEOPLE WITHOUT THE REGULAR DUE PROCESS THAT EVEN FOREIGNERS ARE ENTITLED TO. SO THIS MAKES THESE MASS DEPORTATIONS THAT HE WANTS TO DO SO MUCH EASIER TO CARRY OUT IN THIS NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK. EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE DUE PROCESS WAS BEFORE THESE EXECUTIVE ORDERS. PEOPLE THAT HAVE LIVED IN THE US FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS, EVEN WITHOUT UNDOCUMENTED STATUS, THEY CANNOT JUST BE A GRAB AND DEPORTED. THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO TO IMMIGRATION COURT TO PRESENT THE CASE. NOT THAT THEYāRE GOING TO WIN IT. MOST OF THE TIME THEY ARE DEPORTED ANYWAY, BUT THERE IS A SYSTEM OF LAWS THAT REGULATES HOW DEPORTATIONS HAPPEN. SO THAT IS WHAT TRUMP IS LOOKING TO DO AWAY WITH, WITH THESE EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAT TREAT THEM NOW AS ENEMY COMBATANTS SO THAT THEY CAN BE DEPORTED MUCH FASTER. THE OTHER WORD THAT I HAVE FOUND INTERESTING IS INVASION. WHY DOES FRAMING THIS AS AN INVASION IN A WAY, CHANGE THE IMPACT AND THE IMPORT OF THESE EXECUTIVE ORDERS, BECAUSE HE SAYS THEREāS AN INVASION NOW, HE CAN SAY THAT THEREāS A STATE OF EMERGENCY AND DEPLOY ACTIVE TROOPS TO THE US-MEXICO BORDER. AND NOW USING AIRPLANES FROM THE MILITARY FOR REMOVALS AND DEPORTATIONS. BUT AGAIN, THIS IS NOT TRUE. ASYLUM SEEKERS, IMMIGRANTS, UNACCOMPANIED MINORS ARRIVING AT THE US-MEXICO BORDER, FOR EXAMPLE, THEY DO NOT COME BEARING ARMS. THEY ARE NOT HERE TO TAKE OVER A TERRITORY AND DECLARE INDEPENDENCE. SO AGAIN, ITāS A MISNOMER. BUT AGAIN, IT OPENS ALL THESE AVENUES FOR DONALD TRUMP TO USE. FOR EXAMPLE, BUDGET FROM THE PENTAGON, FROM DEFENSE TO ENGAGE IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT. WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHERE THIS GOES? TRUMP ALSO INVOKED THE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT OF 1798, WHICH SAYS THAT DURING WARTIME, ONLY THE US THEN HAS THE RIGHT TO DETAIN AND IMPRISON AND DEPORT THE FOREIGN BORN. BUT HE HAS NOT FORMALLY DECLARED WAR ON ANY OTHER NATION. SO WE ARE NOT AT WAR TIME. SO HE SHOULDNāT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. BUT HEāS ALREADY USING THE LANGUAGE OF WAR AND SHOWING THE IMAGES OF THE US BEING AT WAR. HEāS TRYING TO INVOKE THE FEELING THAT WE HAD AFTER NINE OVER 11 WHEN WE WERE ATTACKED, AND THAT THERE WAS A RALLY AROUND THE FLAG AND WHERE THE MILITARY PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SOCIETY. HEāS TRYING TO GO TO GO BACK TO THAT, TO GARNER SUPPORT FOR HIS CAUSE. BUT WE ARE LIVING IN A DIFFERENT REALITY TODAY. EARNESTO CASTANEDA IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINO STUDIES AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. TH
Pentagon to deploy additional troops to US-Mexico border, bringing the total to 3,600
Updated: 3:00 PM CST Feb 7, 2025
The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active duty soldiers to the southern border to support President Donald Trumpās expanding crackdown on immigration, a U.S. official said Friday.That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active-duty troops at the border.The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly announced.The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trumpās executive orders signed shortly after he took office on Jan. 20. The first group of 1,600 active duty troops has already deployed to the border, and close to 500 more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to begin moving in the coming days.About 500 Marines also have been told to go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. Several hundred of them have already arrived there.Troops going to the border are expected to help put in place concertina wire barriers and provide needed transportation, intelligence and other support to the Border Patrol. The logistics brigade will help support and sustain the troops.Troops going to Guantanamo are helping to prepare the facility for an influx of migrants and do other support duties.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active duty soldiers to the southern border to support President Donald Trumpās expanding crackdown on immigration, a U.S. official said Friday.
That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active-duty troops at the border.
The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly announced.
The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trumpās executive orders signed shortly after he took office on Jan. 20. The first group of 1,600 active duty troops has already deployed to the border, and close to 500 more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to begin moving in the coming days.
About 500 Marines also have been told to go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. Several hundred of them have already arrived there.
Troops going to the border are expected to help put in place concertina wire barriers and provide needed transportation, intelligence and other support to the Border Patrol. The logistics brigade will help support and sustain the troops.
Troops going to Guantanamo are helping to prepare the facility for an influx of migrants and do other support duties.