WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. military has announced it will send 5,200 troops to the Southwest border to respond to the group of migrants heading north from Central America.
The so-called “caravan” is in southern Mexico, weeks away from the U.S.-Mexico border. According to the San Antonio Express-News, about 1,600 people have left the caravan to settle in Mexico, and hundreds more have turned back.
Some former military and national security officials are criticizing the move. Border Patrol agents have criticized previous attempts to militarize the border as ineffective and impractical, and the Border Patrol itself has been unable to justify its own desire for more agents, which currently number about 20,000.
“The only way this would be effective would be if they took these guards and sent them to be immigration judges,” John Sandweg, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in April under similar circumstances. “Just double the number of immigration judges and the problem is solved.”
“We need 5,200 immigration judges, not 5,200 troops,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum. “Troops with guns are a nonsensical response to migrants carrying bibles, and a waste of resources.
“Instead of calling up the military, the administration should call up a surge of immigration judges to clear backlogs and deal with cases quickly and fairly. Not everyone has a valid asylum claim, but anyone has the right to seek asylum. That’s the law.
“The administration is creating chaos where none exists.”