{"id":16810,"date":"2018-04-04T08:54:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T12:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16810"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:38:04","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:38:04","slug":"border-showdown-support-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/04\/04\/border-showdown-support-troops\/","title":{"rendered":"Border Showdown: Support The Troops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Understaffed and bracing for a mass arrival of Central American migrants<\/a>, a U.S. Border Patrol group is saluting President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to send troops to the Mexican border.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will increase the certainty of apprehensions and put a dent in cartel profits,\u201d said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Noting that Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama deployed National Guardsmen along the border at various times, Judd expects a seamless integration of duties. If past is prologue, troops would handle surveillance duties and free up Border Patrol agents to step up apprehensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll need at least 2,000 troops,\u201d Judd told FAIR. \u201cThat\u2019s the manpower number we\u2019re short.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a caravan of some 1,300 Honduran migrants makes its way north through Mexico, Trump challenged the Mexican government to stop the procession.<\/p>\n

Judd praised the president\u2019s tough words, but says talk is not enough. \u201cWe know the Mexican government is corrupt and takes bribes,\u201d he said. \u201cHuman trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry. Bribes have already been paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governors and the president both have the authority to send the National Guard to the border.<\/p>\n

George W. Bush deployed 6,000 troops from California to Texas in Operation Jump Start<\/a>, which began in 2006.\u00a0It was a successful operation, with the National Guard\u2019s presence facilitating the apprehension of 2,296 illegal aliens, 14,000 pounds of marijuana, and 220 pounds of cocaine.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s discussions Defense Secretary James Mattis<\/a> suggest that regular military troops could be involved this time.<\/p>\n

As the domestic component of the U.S. Army, the National Guard\u2019s job is to control and defend American territory. While they don\u2019t perform immigration enforcement, their presence sends a message to people coming across who shouldn\u2019t be — and would serve as a force multiplier to enable Border Patrol agents to do their job more effectively.<\/p>\n

If push comes to shove at the border, America\u2019s illegal-immigration lobby, led by Democrats on Capitol Hill, will have to come clean: Do they support orchestrated incursions of our borders, or our troops? They can\u2019t have it both ways.