President Donald Trump’s strategy for the U.S.-Mexico border includes mobilizing the National Guard, the White House said on Tuesday, after Trump had earlier spoken publicly to reporters about “guarding our border with the military” to stop illegal immigrants.
The White House statement was released after Trump met with Defence Secretary James Mattis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other officials on border issues. It gave no details on whether or when Trump’s strategy might be implemented.
The National Guard, part of the U.S. military’s reserve forces, has been used in recent years for surveillance and intelligence on the border, but not direct law enforcement.
The president’s earlier remarks sharpened his recurring anti-immigration rhetoric. He said he wanted to deploy U.S. military forces until his long-promised border wall is built.
“Until we can have a wall and proper security we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” Trump told reporters at the White House, lamenting what he called “horrible” U.S. laws that left the southern border poorly protected.
Trump railed against a “caravan” of Central American migrants travelling from the Mexico-Guatemala border in the last 10 days toward the United States, journeys that have occurred annually since 2010 in an effort to draw attention to the plight of people fleeing violence in their countries.
On Tuesday night, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Twitter that the caravan “dispersed gradually and at the decision of its participants.” Mexican officials say privately that they believe Trump has exaggerated the caravan’s importance to renew pressure on Mexico over the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
