Donald Trump Signs Authorization for Border Troops Using Lethal Force as Migrant Caravan Approaches,

[Eugene]

Source: Newsweek

DONALD TRUMP SIGNS AUTHORIZATION FOR BORDER TROOPS USING LETHAL FORCE AS MIGRANT CARAVAN APPROACHES, DOCUMENT REVEALS

BY JAMES LAPORTA ON 11/21/18 AT 3:24 PM

As 400 military police officers from the U.S. Army redeployed to San Diego, the Trump administration approved the use of troops for law enforcement tasks at the southern border, stating that they are permitted to employ lethal force, according to a White House memo obtained by Newsweek.

The "decision memorandum" was signed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday and ran through Derek S. Lyons, a Harvard-educated lawyer and White House staff secretary to John Kelly, the White House chief of staff and former U.S. Marine general. The documents were obtained from a Defense Department source.

Kelly signed the memo late Tuesday authorizing U.S. service members to perform “military protective activities,” allowing service members to use “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search,” as determined by Defense Secretary James Mattis to protect agents with Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

The news of the memo was first reported by The Military Times on Wednesday morning but said the president did not sign off on the White House directive. The memo obtained by Newsweek shows Trump signed off on the order to Mattis. (You can read the full memo at the bottom of this article.)

-snip-

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-memo-migrant-caravan-border-troops-1226945

[DonViejo]

1. Kelly isn't in the military chain of command, this could prove very interesting

[Initech]

2. That caravan is walking into a trap. Trump will slaughter them to please Fox News viewers.

Fuck!!!!

[workinclasszero]

10. Freepers are salivating at the thought

of a slaughterhouse on our southern borders.

[Cattledog]

3. It's illegal for the military to engage in law enforcement inside the US.

It's the Posse Comitatus Act.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

[at140]

6. But will Mathew Whitaker enforce the law?

I have my doubts.

[TomSlick]

14. I've been researching this.

Enforcement is a real problem. I'm pretty clear the Trump DoJ will not prosecute a violation. I don't know who would have standing to bring a civil suit or even if the PCA creates a private cause of action.

I'm pretty clear that violation of the PCA is an impeachable offense but we have so many impeachable offenses now, that one more doesn't make much difference.

That being said, if I was still a serving JAG, I would advise a commander that the PCA is a criminal statute and s/he should be concerned that the next administration might - unlikely but might - prosecute.

[at140]

4. Goes against the statue of Liberty!

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

We should invite all the poor and discriminated and living in risky places people from around the world. There is plenty of wealth here to spread around. Bezos alone can distribute $50,000 each to 2 million people.

[Kajun Gal]

5. Murder? Wow...

[C_U_L8R]

7. Just the idea of firing on unarmed refuge seekers.

Jesus. What fucking monsters in the White House.

[ginnyinWI]

8. Doofus doesn't care about any human being other than himself.

Himself and money. That's about it.

[C_U_L8R]

12. It might be time

for the good majority of this country to go to the border to welcome and shield these refugees

[Separation]

9. So if thats the case. . .

What is this article on about then?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/american-troops-at-border-won%E2%80%99t-have-guns-mattis-says/ar-BBPXMVI?li=BBnb7Kz

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that American troops stationed at the southwest border would not be armed with guns to confront incoming migrants, despite a White House directive that aims to protect border security officials by pairing them with military forces.

The White House memo seeks to expand the mission of the troops at the border to also include duties such as crowd control and temporary detention. But Mr. Mattis said it left the final decision on what American soldiers and Marines could do — and could not — to the defense secretary.



Mr. Mattis mentioned one possible instance in which troops might act: defending a border agent who was hit by a rock, and detaining the migrant who threw it. But asked whether such a situation might call for the American soldier to be armed, the defense secretary unequivocally said it would not.

“No,” he said. “Not with a firearm.”

Sent to the Pentagon on Tuesday night, the memo was signed by John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, not President Trump. It is the latest in a series of White House directives to prod active-duty troops toward a more aggressive role at the border against an approaching caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America.

[ProudLib72]

11. We have a "left hand right hand" situation here

Which does not bode well for anyone.

[Separation]

13. Very dangerous indeed

I am a Historic Military nerd. There have been countless tragedies, defeats, over the centuries that have come from, "The Left Hand not Knowing What the Right Hand is Doing".

In today's day and age, I can only hope that the officers in charge, (remember Trump's worse numbers come from those that are educated) would hold their Oath to Office to their heart as I did to mine.

[C_U_L8R]

15. Then Trump's responsible for ANY harm that's done

The world is watching... especially folks in The Hague