Who is supporting the immigrant caravan?

[youthathletics]

We all know full well that each side is afraid to pass any such legislation....it would likely mean curtains for them, because there is no single way to do it without political repercussion.

Disagree completely. Republican voters would throw a parade for Trump if he passed ANY Immigration Reform bill. And I do mean ANY bill.

This is the Trump era, YA. What have we learned? All that matters is: which party that puts the bill forth. The actual policy or idea is now wholly immaterial to a partisan's judgement.

They could pass any bill they like. Period. Trump would spin it, and voila, Republican voters would be overjoyed with the new Immigration Reform Bill....no matter what is in it. They could "compromise" with the Dems until the cows come home, and it wouldn't cost them a single vote.

This is about maintaining status quo. Nothing else matters. That's why there is no bill.

That's why Obamacare is still law.

The Trump era will come and go, just like every other administration. What I am suggesting is that no political party wants to have that cloud hanging over their head because there is no telling what the hangover may bring, politically speaking. Have you forgotten that Obamacare is one of the reasons Trump is in office...he made it a bigly point of emphasis. You are correct about status quo....which is why the R's do not want to eff that up. The wall is the happy medium with little political risk and no politician is going to argue its worth after it is built if it works.

[a fan]

No, the reason that Trump is in office is that, as cradleandshoot pointed out gloriously, they decided to nominate Hillary instead of a ham sammich.

The fact that Obamacare is still law tells you all you need to know: if you listened to FoxNation over the last four years under Obama, Obamacare was the single worst law passed in our nation's history, and was destroying our great nation.

Odd, no one cares about it in 2018. Why? Why isn't FoxNation talking about that 24/7? Simple. The R's are in charge...and R voters have told their reps that no matter what you do, we'll support you. You are the truth. Everyone else is the enemy, and is lying. Therefore, if you don't care about Obamacare, neither do we.

And if what you say about the wall is even remotely true: where is it? Why wasn't it funded months ago? $2.7 Trillion in new spending, and they can't pay for the wall?

Congressmen are making themselves seen in the Trump era: the curtain is drawn back. They're not pretending anymore. The reason that they pass a bill, is that they WANT to pass it. Period. Full stop. There aren't repercussions anymore in American politics, and Congress knows it.

[jhu72]

5:15 PM 10/29/18

Little news of the migrant caravan today. They are moving to Santiago Niltepec, a 33 mile trip today. No new claims as to size or makeup of the caravan. Another much smaller caravan is attempting to cross into Mexico and is being interdicted at the Suchiate River.

[youthathletics]

No, the reason that Trump is in office is that, as cradleandshoot pointed out gloriously, they decided to nominate Hillary instead of a ham sammich.

The fact that Obamacare is still law tells you all you need to know: if you listened to FoxNation over the last four years under Obama, Obamacare was the single worst law passed in our nation's history, and was destroying our great nation.

You just proved my sole point...and that helped get Trump elected.

[DMac]

5:15 PM 10/29/18

Little news of the migrant caravan today. They are moving to Santiago Niltepec, a 33 mile trip today. No new claims as to size or makeup of the caravan. Another much smaller caravan is attempting to cross into Mexico and is being interdicted at the Suchiate River.

As such i ate a ham sammich for lunch and paid little attention to the news.
Update is appreciated, invasion marches forward at a steady and consistent pace.

[jhu72]

Some interesting news:

- Jay Johnson ex DHS head says the 5000 extra troops being sent to the border is a waste of time and money. They will be able to do little or nothing legally. (Posse Comitatus)

- Some clown on Faux News this afternoon claimed the migrants were going to infect us all with TB, Leprosy and/or small pox. Fox anchor Charles Payne tried to roll that back after the clown left the set.

[cradleandshoot]

5:15 PM 10/29/18

Little news of the migrant caravan today. They are moving to Santiago Niltepec, a 33 mile trip today. No new claims as to size or makeup of the caravan. Another much smaller caravan is attempting to cross into Mexico and is being interdicted at the Suchiate River.

As such i ate a ham sammich for lunch and paid little attention to the news.
Update is appreciated, invasion marches forward at a steady and consistent pace.

Shame on you Dmac… you may have just eaten the next Democratic POTUS... Heard on the news today on the way home that trump has 5200 military folks at the border. Oddly enough not a single one of them ever trained in detaining illegal immigrants trying to bum rush the border. I am guessing the game plan now revolves around a turd load of concertina wire spread out where they predict these people to wind up. I suppose the counter measure will be a humanitarian offer to these folks from The Home Depot for wire cutting pliers. The backup plan could be prop wash from a bunch of blackhawks flying low to the border. Unknown there is you don't know what direction the folks will land... glass10 https://www.crystalgraphicsimages.com/v ... te-a-image You all have probably seen this stuff in droves if you have ever driven by a local prison. Very nasty stuff... can rip your flesh to shreds. That is what it was made to do.

[Trinity]

Troops gonna do a whole lot of waiting in the empty desert. Happy Thanksgiving!

[cradleandshoot]

It is not what they are trained to do. US military can do nothing outside of assisting border control. The hype over these soldiers being sent down here is stunning to me. It seems like a lot of Americans don't understand the limitations placed on our military by our own government... for good reason. Unless someone wants to declare these people as enemy combatants... there is really nothing our military can do... or should do.

[DMac]

Yes sir, a bunch GIs woke up and had TAD orders to head to the border with a schitload of barbed wire. Uncle Sam Wants You....It's more than just a job, it's an adventure. I'd be putting in for Kitzingen after that little mission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzingen

[youthathletics]

It was my understanding, and I could be wrong, that the military is fending them off so that they can not make it to the border, ICE, US gates....whatever you want to call it to even have the chance to "claim asylum". Essentially, meaning they are stuck in Mexico....just like the troops will be.

Then, I can see it now, the caravan mob will begin to lose weight, children will cough, look famished, the media will zoom in our their ribs and cry humanitarian crimes on the US. The shock and awe is what the media is praying on.

[holmes435]

I like how the caravan isn't close to the border and half of America doesn't want to even let these people legally apply for citizenship or for asylum.

A huge portion of this fight isn't even over legal immigration, it's about banning certain immigrants. But Norwegians are cool to come. Not that many would really want to in the first place.

[old salt]

Some interesting news:

- Jay Johnson ex DHS head says the 5000 extra troops being sent to the border is a waste of time and money. They will be able to do little or nothing legally. (Posse Comitatus)

- Some clown on Faux News this afternoon claimed the migrants were going to infect us all with TB, Leprosy and/or small pox. Fox anchor Charles Payne tried to roll that back after the clown left the set.

This afternoon, while driving around on BOLO patrol, searching for MAGA bumper stickers, I heard this very informative CBP/DoD briefing on border operations.
Worth a listen. Lots of info in just 20 min.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?453817-1/ ... nt-caravan

Current caravan size = 3500. Another 3000 caravan forming. They're preparing for a stream of future caravans, if this one is not halted as a deterrent.
They're preparing to defend the border, based on the rioting & forced entry they saw at the Guat & Mexican borders.
They would be negligent not to prepare accordingly. They give a good briefing on how the DoD forces will enable the CBP.
You geniuses may think this is just a political stunt. These professionals make a convincing case that they are taking necessary, reasonable precautions,

I'm a big admirer of Jeh Johnson, but I have to disagree with him on this one.
If he had this level of support & backing, maybe he could have stopped these caravans when they started & deterred their successors.
This is a legit military mission. This is why NORTHCOM exists. They're not sending light infantry. The CBP agents are the tip of the spear.
The military are there to support them & are truely force multipliers. Listen to "the order of battle" of the forces being deployed & their capabilities.
It makes sense. (lengthy detailed excerpt below for non-WP subscribers}

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 4055437df9

Air Force Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, the chief of U.S. Northern Command, told reporters Monday that the deployments, dubbed “Operation Faithful Patriot,” already are underway. He said the military, working alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will focus first on “hardening” the border in Texas, followed by Arizona and California.

The mobilization will include three combat engineer battalions, members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and troops who specialize in aviation, medical treatment and logistics, O’Shaughnessy said. Black Hawk helicopters sent to the area will have night-vision capabilities and sensors, carrying troops trained in the kind of aerial combat missions used by the military in active war zones.

“We’ll be able to spot and identify groups and rapidly deploy CBP personnel where they are needed,” O’Shaughnessy said.

The activation of such a large contingent of active-duty forces at the border — as opposed to National Guard troops — has no modern precedent and appeared to be the largest of its kind in a century during peacetime.

President Trump on Oct. 20 again threatened to send the military to the U.S.-Mexico border to head off a migrant caravan headed north. (The Washington Post)

Kevin K. McAleenan, the top U.S. border security official, said the decision to send troops was not motivated by electoral politics but rather was a law enforcement necessity, as U.S. agents prepare for the possibility that crowds of migrants will amass and turn unruly.

McAleenan, the CBP commissioner, said his agency was tracking a caravan of about 3,500 people moving north through southern Mexico. A second group of about 3,000 that clashed with Mexican police over the weekend lags behind them.

“We are preparing for the contingency of large groups of arriving persons in the next several weeks,” he said. “We will not allow a large group to enter the United States in an unsafe and unlawful manner.”

In private, Homeland Security officials acknowledge they were alarmed by scenes of migrants breaking through a gate at Guatemala’s border with Mexico last week. The concentration of so many people at the U.S. border, the officials said, would amount to a potentially volatile and unprecedented crowd-control challenge for U.S. border agents and customs officers.

“What is new and challenging about this caravan phenomenon is the formation of multiple large groups that present unique safety and border security threats,” McAleenan said.

Last month, U.S. agents arrested a record number of migrant family members along the border, and more than half of those taken into custody now are parents with children or minors traveling along, McAleenan said.

“We’re already facing a border security and humanitarian crisis,” he said, adding that an average of 1,900 people have been crossing the border without authorization each day in recent weeks.

Immigrant advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union blasted the move to send military forces and said migrants are exercising their rights under international and federal laws to seek asylum in the United States. Many are walking toward the United States with their families and say they are escaping violence and grinding poverty back home.

“These migrants need water, diapers and basic necessities — not an army division,” Shaw Drake, policy counsel for the ACLU’s Border Rights Center in El Paso, said in a statement. “Sending active military forces to our southern border is not only a huge waste of taxpayer money but an unnecessary course of action that will further terrorize and militarize our border communities.”

The active-duty deployment comes in addition to Operation Guardian Support, a National Guard mission launched last spring that involves just short of 2,100 troops. O’Shaughnessy, asked why the National Guard was not selected for the new mission, said the military is bringing “additional capability” with the active-duty troops. However, nearly all of the kinds of troops sought for Faithful Patriot exist in the Guard.

Initial deployments for the operation include soldiers from Fort Campbell and Fort Knox in Kentucky, Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Riley in Kansas, according to a Pentagon document obtained by The Washington Post. Those deployments, which primarily include military police and engineers, began Monday and will continue throughout the week, according to the document.

A Pentagon activation message for the operation distributed internally Monday states that Homeland Security has requested that the Defense Department provide support to the CBP “through the arrival and detention of the migrant caravan currently traveling to the U.S. southern border no later than 30 October.”

The support will enhance the CBP’s ability to “impede or deny illegal crossings, maintain situational awareness and apply the appropriate law enforcement response as it contributes to the overall border security mission of CBP,” the message said.

The Trump administration's selection of active-duty service members for the new operation also will eliminate complications with governors who do not want their National Guardsmen involved in the operation. In June, several governors called home Guardsmen from the border amid outrage about the Trump administration's separation of migrant children from their parents at the border.

O’Shaughnessy said that the personnel on the border will continue to follow the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents U.S. troops from taking a direct role in law enforcement missions in most circumstances.

O’Shaughnessy said the Pentagon also will deploy military police units and cargo aircraft, including three C-130s and one C-17. Combined command posts will be established to integrate U.S. military and CBP efforts.

The Pentagon already has sent 22 miles of concertina wire to the 1,954-mile-long border, he said, and has enough additional wire to cover 150 miles.

The deployments thrust the military further into a political fight in which the president increasingly has sought to cast the migrants as a national security threat in the days leading up to the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Earlier Monday, Trump tweeted accusations about the caravan without citing any evidence.

“Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border,” Trump said. “Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

The White House has shown confidence that Trump’s hard-line enforcement message will continue to drive his conservative base to the polls and even draw some crossover appeal among more-moderate voters.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration is considering several administrative actions on the southern border, although she declined to publicly describe the options. Trump will do what “he deems necessary” on immigration, Sanders said.

The White House has put significant pressure on the government of Mexico to block the caravan’s advance. The group has diminished from a peak of nearly 7,000 migrants, as some footsore travelers and parents with children have dropped out or fallen behind. At least 1,000 caravan members have applied for asylum in Mexico, authorities say.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Friday offered temporary work permits, medical care and other benefits to migrants if they agree to register with authorities and remain in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, far from the U.S. border. But the core group of mostly Honduran migrants has rejected his entreaty and continued heading north toward the U.S. border.

The caravan remains at least 900 miles from U.S. territory, so its arrival is not imminent.

In an attempt to limit the caravan’s size, Mexican police clashed Sunday with a smaller, separate group of Central Americans attempting to enter from Guatemala and catch up to the main group. At least one man was killed as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas.

Some more good details in this free ABC report.

[holmes435]

Troops gonna do a whole lot of waiting in the empty desert. Happy Thanksgiving!

[old salt]

Troops gonna do a whole lot of waiting in the empty desert. Happy Thanksgiving!

If nobody shows up, the show of force worked as a deterrent => Trump wins.

The troops will be in their FOB's eating turkey & watching the Lions & Cowboys on big screens.
...maybe there'll be a USO tour -- Trace Adkins, Toby Kieth & Lee Greenwood. Trump will hype this for all it's worth.

[Trinity]

Operation Faithful Patriot. Fighting leprosy and smallpox and grandma invaders.

Bwhahahahaha. Led by President Bullworth. Cheered on by David Duke.

Turn on Fox. Maybe Shep can talk you down.

[youthathletics]

[Trinity]

Even Drudge thinks Fox sucks. Even freaking Matt Drudge.

[foreverlax]

5000 of our best serving meals at the border.....same number we have fighting ISIS.

Scary, all these pox ridden MS-13 and ME terrorits coming to put in Sharia. Scary.

[dislaxxic]

And Lou Forkin DOBBS says they're bringing small pox and LEPROSY with them. What a bunch of desperate dweebs these people are.

..