The saga of the president’s meltdown over immigration policy is continuing this Tuesday. He has long, of course, sought to see a wall go up between the U.S. and Mexico, and he’s also long claimed he’s somehow going to have Mexico pay for that wall. In recent days, he’s ramped up his rhetoric yet again on that front, asserting — among other bellicose proclamations — that there will be no deal to protect “Dreamers” provided for by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program.
Now, he’s added to his recent incendiary immigration policy proclamations by asserting that he’s going to send the U.S. military to our border with Mexico. His announcement to that effect comes after the continued thwarting of his plans to see a border wall go up; he threatened to veto a recently passed government spending bill because it didn’t provide for the structure. He eventually signed the measure.
In the wake of this latest roadblock to his plans, the president commented as follows to reporters at the White House on Tuesday:
‘We are going to be doing some things — I’ve been speaking with General Mattis — we are going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with the military. That’s a big step.’
To be clear about what he’s pushing for here, the president wants the U.S. Armed Forces to be deployed to a border we share with an ally. Both Presidents Obama and George W. Bush had the National Guard on the border with Mexico at one point, but what the president is proposing seems to be a step above that.
The president’s comments to that effect come against the backdrop of him having in the past already been reported to have brought up the idea of sending troops into Mexico to combat the drug problem.
He has been set off most recently by reports about a group of migrants traveling through Mexico to the U.S. border, most of whom were reported to plan to seek asylum in the United States.
The president tore into Mexico on Twitter for supposedly not having done enough to stop the group from making its way to the U.S. border, bringing up his old claim of foreign governments, particularly the Mexican one, “sending” dangerous people into our country in the process. The Mexican government has announced plans to break up the group, with at least one official asserting that it was doing so without regard to the president’s belligerence.
Accompanying his criticisms of the Mexican government, the president at one point lashed out against the fact that undocumented immigrants to the United States are treated to due process just like other individuals who come into contact with U.S. authorities.
He wrote, in part:
‘As ridiculous as it sounds, the laws of our country do not easily allow us to send those crossing our Southern Border back where they came from. A whole big wasted procedure must take place.’
The president’s incessant incendiary rhetoric has paralyzed the debate over immigration policy; he’s brought it to the realm where it needs to be reiterated that a border wall isn’t going to solve all of our problems and that due process isn’t a “big wasted procedure.”
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
