Trump says he may send 15,000 troops to the Southwest

essentialsaltes said:

“We’ll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Control, ICE and everybody else at the border,” Trump said in remarks to reporters before departing Washington for a campaign rally in Florida. “Nobody’s coming in. We’re not allowing people to come in.”

Trump’s comments came a day after the general in charge of the border deployment said 5,239 active-duty troops would be heading to the border with more potentially to follow, in addition to the 2,092 members of the National Guard already there.

It wasn’t clear whether Trump’s 15,000 figure included the National Guard deployment.

If the deployment reaches 15,000 troops, it would be roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan and three times the size of the presence in Iraq. Already, the deployment is believed to be the largest of its kind in more than a century.

'Jade Helm 15' involved 1200 troops in the Southwest and many here had to change their pants with fear about what US troops might do. They must be 10 times as afraid of what might happen now. They certainly should be, since this is not a training exercise and (we are assured) it is not an election-time publicity stunt. People might get hurt.

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There'll be a dramatic windfall for bar owners in Arizona for a while. That's the good news.

I don't know the answer, but they have to do something. These caravans are a show of disrespect towards the country overall. Their behavior so far isn't giving me much hope either. We all know it's not all of them, but sadly enough of them.

People are getting hurt and dying with these crossings, and that is without the military there.

I know families that are waiting to have their family members come join them, and they have been waiting in line for a while. Their circumstance isn't much better - if it is at all to these individuals. There are plenty of families in this same circumstance - waiting - and it certainly isn't fair or just to have others just plow through borders and demand entrance like this.

essentialsaltes said:

“We’ll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Control, ICE and everybody else at the border,” Trump said in remarks to reporters before departing Washington for a campaign rally in Florida. “Nobody’s coming in. We’re not allowing people to come in.”

Trump’s comments came a day after the general in charge of the border deployment said 5,239 active-duty troops would be heading to the border with more potentially to follow, in addition to the 2,092 members of the National Guard already there.

It wasn’t clear whether Trump’s 15,000 figure included the National Guard deployment.

If the deployment reaches 15,000 troops, it would be roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan and three times the size of the presence in Iraq. Already, the deployment is believed to be the largest of its kind in more than a century.

'Jade Helm 15' involved 1200 troops in the Southwest and many here had to change their pants with fear about what US troops might do. They must be 10 times as afraid of what might happen now. They certainly should be, since this is not a training exercise and (we are assured) it is not an election-time publicity stunt. People might get hurt.

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Sounds like he's going to prevent the AZ and NV elections.

essentialsaltes said:

By all accounts, the majority intend to apply for asylum as refugees, as US law allows. After they travel a thousand more miles or so.

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Ok. Mexico has already offered them jobs, housing, medical treatment, etc. Did anyone tell them that refusing this would be held against them in their asylum claim? I can only hope. They will be going back 1,000 miles or more too.

Someone seems to be telling these people - or encouraging them at the very least - to come. I doubt they are telling them the whole truth about this journey. Walking back isn't going to be as pleasant I wouldn't think.

Although, this really has nothing to do with the Military on the border.

AirPo said:

Sounds like he's going to prevent the AZ and NV elections.

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?? You lost me. How is this going to prevent any election?

This is so beyond ridiculous. Yes, a bunch of itinerant people a thousand miles away, hungry and homeless, are an invasion that requires deploying thousands of troops to the border. Right.

archer75 said:

This is so beyond ridiculous. Yes, a bunch of itinerant people a thousand miles away, hungry and homeless, are an invasion that requires deploying thousands of troops to the border. Right.

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If they intend to cross illegally, yes. If they are willing to go through legal channels for asylum, we don't have a problem.

Steve Petersen said:

If they intend to cross illegally, yes. If they are willing to go through legal channels for asylum, we don't have a problem.

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They are allowed to enter the country for purposes of claiming asylum.

Military force against asylum seekers? That definitely seems excessive.

HannahT said:

?? You lost me. How is this going to prevent any election?

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It's a joke about the "rumors" that Obama was gonna send the army into the southwest under the guise of Jade Helm to prevent elections there.

MariaJLM said:

Military force against asylum seekers? That definitely seems excessive.

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No, no it does not.

There are an estimate 11 million people in this country illegally.

hundreds of thousands of immigrants sneak across on a yearly basis. As a citizen, I do not like this and I want my government to stop it.

The only way to stop this is with more manpower. We have the best trained military in the world that are paid to protect this nation. Illegal immigrants cost US tax payers 100s of billions per year, is responsible for hospitals being overloaded and going bankrupt, and also have a negative impact on our crime statistics...

I have absolutely ZERO problem with our military going to the border to prevent illegals from crossing. Now, of course I would not approve of us carpet bombing and mortar shelling immigrants trying to sneak over, that would be inhumane. However, our military can easily "prevent" immigrants from coming over without killing them. And i have zero problem with that.

This is the one issue that ONLY Trump can do something about. No politician could handle the political backlash that sending troops to the border would entail.

I absolutely can't stand Trump, however, this is an issue where he can pick up a lot of points across all demographics.

Once we have an airtight border, then I would be completely fine with whatever hippie-dippie-liberal amnesty program we want to allow illegals here to partake in... but you can't do that UNTIL you have an airtight border.

Similarly, once you have an airtight border and ADVERTISE that we have an airtight border, you will notice a severe drop in illegal immigrants even trying to sneak across.

dgiharris said:

No, no it does not.

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Trained military against women and children is excessive.

AirPo said:

Trained military against women and children is excessive.

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By that logic Border Patrol would be considered excessive would they not?

would you prefer instead we send the boyscouts and girlscouts???

please be practical. Name another authoritative body that has the manpower and resources to patrol the border and prevent illegals from crossing over and I will happily support their use instead.

We use the Military for a wide range of missions from humanitarian to warfighting. I was part of a military contingent that did disaster relief after a major flood devastated an area... We didn't go in and bomb anything... The military does more than kill people and break things...

It isn't ideal, but it is the only viable solution at this point in time.

This country has dropped the ball on illegal immigration for decades, we've had decades to realize that nice fluffy pie-in-the-sky solution and we haven't. So I'm not opposed to trying something different.

If anything bad happens it will be on the Hondurans trying to push through the border and force their way in. Is the US supposed to capitulate? Simply let everyone who claims asylum in when it is obvious they aren't being persecuted but want economic security?

Get in the line and apply to enter the country respectfully. Both Democrat and Republican would respect that.

AirPo said:

Trained military against women and children is excessive.

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You do realize there are far more men within caravan right? Your statement is a bit disingenuous if you realize that. If you didn't realize that? You might wish to check into it.

It's not the women and children that threw rocks/stones at the Mexican military/police harmed them in the process. It wasn't them either that broke down the fences, etc.

We are talking about more than women and children here. They have completely disrespected their government, and the government of Mexico so far. Are we suppose to enable that behavior? Do you not think that type of behavior is also a bit excessive too? I do.