The Pentagon announced that the deployment of US troops on the border with Mexico will be extended until the end of September 2019.

“In response to a request from the US Department of Homeland Security on December 27, 2018, Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan decided to extend the US Department of Defense assistance to the Department of Homeland Security until September 30, 2019. The US Department of Defense will reorient efforts on the southwestern border from strengthening checkpoints to mobile surveillance and detection, as well as continue to install wirelines between checkpoints. Aviation support will continue, ”the Marine Corps Times newspaper said in a statement by the US defense department.

Official representatives of the Pentagon also said that they could not yet specify how much more military would be sent to the border with Mexico.

Now on the southern line of the United States there are 2,350 American troops and about the same number of national guardsmen. They were sent there at the end of October 2018 at the request of President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (MVB) to protect the border crossings, which were soon to be reached by caravans of refugees and migrants from Central America, from penetration.

To gallery page

Several units of the army and the US Marine Corps were involved in providing security at the border, erecting barbed wire fences, and also providing support to border guard agents in Texas, Arizona, and California. Initially, the military presence at the border was supposed to be curtailed by December 15, but then it was extended until January 31, 2019.

All or nothing

The theme of illegal migration and insecurity of the southern border of the United States is central to the presidency of Donald Trump. The American leader has repeatedly stated that he would not allow participants in caravans with refugees to American territory, and called the situation an "invasion."

Having ordered to send the military to the border, he also stressed that he would give them the right to use military weapons in case of clashes with refugees.

In response, political opponents of the Democratic Party’s president accused him of inflating xenophobic attitudes and fears of midterm congressional elections in November 2018, a few days after Trump’s decision to send the army to the border.

However, the main stumbling block between the president and his political opponents in the US Congress was the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, which Trump had promised to build for his voters during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Democrats' refusal to vote for the draft budget, in which the White House included an item on the allocation of $ 5 billion to finance the construction of the wall, led to a shutdown - the shutdown of the services of the US federal government.

The current shutdown has become the longest in the history of the United States - it has been going on for more than three weeks.

From here to lunch

Earlier, a number of US media reported that, in addition to sending soldiers to maintain security at the border, the Pentagon was preparing for another version of the development of events - the construction of the wall with his own hands.

“The Ministry of Defense is exploring accessible agencies and funding mechanisms to identify options that would allow construction of a border fence. Since there were no announcements of a state of emergency, further comments on this issue would be inappropriate, ”USA Day quoted the words of Pentagon spokesman Bill Nix, captain of the United States Navy.

In the event of the introduction of a state of emergency, Trump can order the allocation of funds for construction through the Ministry of Defense, for which he will not need the approval of Congress. The president himself stressed that he has every right to such actions.

  • Trump during a visit to the border with Mexico
  • Reuters
  • © Leah Millis

"The law on this matter is clear - I mean that we have the full right to impose a state of emergency in the country," the Fox News channel quoted him as saying.

Shortly after this statement, Donald Trump went on a visit to the US-Mexican border. He was accompanied by the commander of US engineering troops, Lieutenant General Todd Semonaite. It is this military organization that will build a wall if the plan with the introduction of a state of emergency is implemented.

At the same time, The Washington Post, citing sources at the White House, said that Trump "strongly urged" the engineering troops to find out "how quickly contracts can be signed" and whether the construction of the wall could begin within 45 days.

The implementation of such a project through the Pentagon requires the adoption of the defense budget, which is part of the larger US federal budget, recalled in chief of the Institute of the USA and Canada Vladimir Batyuk in an interview with RT.

“He has not yet been adopted. So even the decision to involve the army in this enterprise can rest against the lack of funds. The US defense budget for the coming 2019 does not provide for the cost of building this wall. Five billion is a lot of money even for the budget of the American army, ”the expert noted.

Against the possible introduction of the state of emergency mode, members of the congress committee on armed forces from both parties spoke. Thus, the Republican congressman from the state of Texas, Mac Thornberry, said that he opposed the misuse of the military budget, and hoped for the president’s “prudence”.

Democratic Senator Doug Jones, in turn, noted that the congress and US citizens would regard such actions by the Trump administration as an abuse of power.

After that, Donald Trump announced that he would not yet introduce a state of emergency in order to carry out his project, but again he recalled that he had the right to do so.

“I’m not going to declare a state of emergency, it’s too easy. Now I have every right to declare it, but I am not going to simply because it is too simple, ”said the US President.

"Deepening the crisis"

Despite the extensive public debate in the United States on human rights and refugee assistance, the problem with the incidents at the border has not disappeared, said political analyst Alexander Asafov. The expert added that, despite Trump’s refusal to impose a state of emergency, this option is not off the agenda.

“Therefore, the presence of US Army personnel there will not be superfluous. It is worth remembering that the US government and security agencies do not undertake a single business without careful planning and the availability of additional options. Despite the fact that Trump refused to introduce the state of emergency, the option of building the wall with the help of the military was not removed from the agenda, ”said the expert in an interview with RT.

Donald Trump's current goal is to “squeeze” his political opponents and conduct it through the federal budget as it should be, Asafov notes.

“This one is saved, and he still plans the options and calculates them - no one can be dismissed. He may suddenly agree to enter the state of emergency, and then these soldiers will immediately be in business. As for the length of their stay, it will be extended in six months, because the situation at the border will remain tense, even if Trump builds this wall, ”the expert believes.

The fact that the situation has reached the point of talking about the introduction of the state of emergency, the use of the army and the military budget indicates a deepening domestic political crisis in the United States, Vladimir Batyuk said in an interview with RT.

“When the army begins to be involved in internal political clashes, this is evidence that the cold civil war that is now going on in the United States may at some point cease to be cold. Then the situation will be completely unpredictable and much will depend on the form in which the army will be involved in this internal political conflict. In any case, this will be the strongest demoralizing factor and a sharp weakening of America’s military-political position, ”suggested Batiuk.