Egypt approves Temsah offshore concession reassignment to EGPC, Ieoc, BP    CBE, China's National Financial Regulatory sign MoU to strengthen joint cooperation    Avrio Gold to launch new jewellery, bullion factory in early 2026    Investment Minister holds talks with DLA Piper, global investors eyeing Egypt's market    AUC makes history as 1st global host of IMMAA 2025    Al Ismaelia launches award-winning 'TamaraHaus' in Downtown Cairo revival    Al-Sisi, Burhan discuss efforts to end Sudan war, address Nile Dam dispute in Cairo talks    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Al-Burhan renew opposition to Ethiopia's unilateral Blue Nile moves    Egypt's Cabinet hails Sharm El-Sheikh peace summit as turning point for Middle East peace    Egypt starts October Takaful and Karama payments worth over EGP 4b to 4.7m families    Egyptian pound edges up slightly against US dollar in early Wednesday trade    Gaza's fragile ceasefire tested as aid, reconstruction struggle to gain ground    Egypt's human rights committee reviews national strategy, UNHRC membership bid    Boehringer Ingelheim Launches Metalyse® 25 mg in Egypt Following Approval by the Egyptian Drug Authority    Trump-Xi meeting still on track    Al-Sisi, world leaders meet in Sharm El-Sheikh to coordinate Gaza ceasefire implementation    Trump praises Al-Sisi's 'important role' at Gaza peace summit    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile actions, calls for global water cooperation    Egypt unearths one of largest New Kingdom Fortresses in North Sinai    Egypt unearths New Kingdom military fortress on Horus's Way in Sinai    Egypt Writes Calm Anew: How Cairo Engineered the Ceasefire in Gaza    Egypt's acting environment minister heads to Abu Dhabi for IUCN Global Nature Summit    Egyptian Open Amateur Golf Championship 2025 to see record participation    Cairo's Al-Fustat Hills Park nears completion as Middle East's largest green hub – PM    Egypt's Cabinet approves decree featuring Queen Margaret, Edinburgh Napier campuses    El-Sisi boosts teachers' pay, pushes for AI, digital learning overhaul in Egypt's schools    Egypt's Sisi congratulates Khaled El-Enany on landslide UNESCO director-general election win    Syria releases preliminary results of first post-Assad parliament vote    Karnak's hidden origins: Study reveals Egypt's great temple rose from ancient Nile island    Egypt resolves dispute between top African sports bodies ahead of 2027 African Games    Egypt reviews Nile water inflows as minister warns of impact of encroachments on Rosetta Branch    Egypt's ministry of housing hails Arab Contractors for 5 ENR global project awards    Egypt aims to reclaim global golf standing with new major tournaments: Omar Hisham    Egypt to host men's, juniors' and ladies' open golf championships in October    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Trump sends 5,200 troops to Mexico border as caravan advances
Published in Ahram Online on 30 - 10 - 2018

The United States said on Monday it will send over 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico, a far larger-than-expected deployment as President Donald Trump hardens his stance on immigration ahead of Nov. 6 mid-term elections.
The deployment will create an active-duty force comparable in size to the U.S. military contingent in Iraq, as Trump's administration draws attention to a caravan of migrants that is trekking through Mexico toward the United States.
General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, the head of U.S. Northern Command, said 800 U.S. troops were already en route to the Texas border and more were headed to the borders in California and Arizona.
“The president has made it clear that border security is national security,” O'Shaughnessy said, as he detailed a much larger deployment that the 800 to 1,000 troops predicted by U.S. officials last week.
O'Shaughnessy said some soldiers would be armed although it was unclear who, beyond U.S. military police, might need those weapons. U.S. officials have stressed that the troops would not police the border and instead carry out support roles like building tents and barricades, and flying U.S. customs personnel to locations along the border.
Trump railed against illegal immigration to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has seized on the caravan of Central American migrants at campaign rallies in the run-up to next week's vote, firing up support for his Republican Party.
Trump said the United States would build “tent cities” to house migrants seeking asylum, rather than releasing them while they await court decisions.
“We're going to put tents up all over the place. We're not going to build structures and spend all of this, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars - we're going to have tents,” he told Fox News in an interview.
Trump said detaining asylum seekers while their cases are being decided would discourage others from following suit.
Armed Soldiers
If the Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, it could become much harder for Trump to pursue his policy agenda in his remaining two years in office.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in late September and early October, 75 percent of Republican voters said illegal immigration is a very big problem, compared with 19 percent of Democratic voters.
Although Trump's supporters in Congress praised the deployment of troops, the American Civil Liberties Union derided it as a political stunt.
“President Trump has chosen just before midterm elections to force the military into furthering his anti-immigrant agenda of fear and division,” said Shaw Drake, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union Border Rights Center in El Paso, Texas.
Trump said on Twitter on Monday that the military would be waiting for the procession — suggesting a far more direct role in confronting the migrants than the Pentagon described.
Officials said no decisions had been made.
Kevin McAleenan, the U.S. commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said a group of approximately 3,500 immigrants were traveling through southern Mexico with the intent of reaching the U.S. border. A second caravan of about 3,000 people were at the Guatemala-Mexico border, McAleenan said.
At the same time, over the last three weeks, border agents have encountered nearly 1,900 people per day either crossing the border illegally or presenting themselves at ports of entry, with over half of them being children alone or parents and children traveling together, McAleenan said.
“We are already facing a border security and humanitarian crisis at our southwest border,” he said.
Some migrants have abandoned the journey, deterred by the hardships or the possibility instead of making a new life in Mexico. Others joined it in southern Mexico.
Trump's decision to call in the military appears to be a departure from past practice, at least in recent years, in which such operations were carried out by National Guard forces — largely part-time military members who are often called upon to serve in response to domestic emergencies.
There are already 2,100 U.S. National Guard forces at the border, sent after a previous Trump request in April. The latest deployment would be in addition to those forces.
The decision to send active duty forces this time gives the Pentagon the ability to more rapidly mobilize greater capability than would be immediately available with the Guard, officials told Reuters.
But it also injects the military, which prides itself in being non-partisan, into a highly charged political issue just days ahead of an election.


Clic here to read the story from its source.