Victor's Blog NewsTaco February 17, 2017

Is Trump sending the National Guard to Round-Up Undocumented?

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (2.5 minute read)  

My instinct is to believe that, yes, the Trump administration, five days into the presidency, drafted a plan for deporting undocumented people that included using 100,000 National Guard troops. I tend to believe it because the Associated Press says it’s true.

Here’s how the AP reported it:

“The Trump administration considered a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round-up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press.

“Staffers in the Department of Homeland Security said the proposal had been discussed as recently as last Friday.

“The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana.”

Read more stories about Trump’s immigration plans in NewsTaco. >> 

Then there was this, Tweeted by TIME’s Ryan Teague:

You can click on the link in the Tweet to read the memo.

The White House’s Sean Spicer denied it. Reuters reported it:

“The White House on Friday denied it was considering mobilizing as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round-up non-citizens who are in the country illegally.”

Meanwhile Rep. Joaquin Castro, who was one of the few allowed to attend a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chief Thomas Homan yesterday, Tweeted this:

And that’s where we stand.

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As I said, I tend to believe the reports of the National Guard mobilization, but not because of Trump’s campaign rhetoric or because of his actions once in office that enabled immigration authorities to deport almost anyone not born in the U.S.

My belief comes from the paradoxical nature of this White House, where the most extreme things are believably common. It’s hard to believe that a president would activate the National Guard to round-up and deport people, but it sounds like the kind of thing Trump would do.

By the way, in 2005 Latinos were 9.2 percent of the military reserves.

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[Photo by Virginia Guard Public Affairs/Flickr]

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