Editor: Donald Trump declared a national emergency just to have something to back his decision to send troops to the US Mexico border. He knows, as do most Americans, that border crossings are at an all-time low—lower than they were when Trump left office after his first term.
When the I heard reports that he had designated the Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or FTOs, I screamed internally. It was only last year that I researched this exact topic for a college assignment where I was part of the DEA tasked with informing Biden of the best way to deal with the cartels and I argued against this designation, acknowledging it was mainly being pushed by Republicans like Lindsey Graham, to give them an excuse and the authority to send in American military troops.
The correct declaration would be to classify them as a Commercial Insurgency as this provides the President with the ability to freeze the cartel’s money, which is their number one prized possession and why they do what they do. In my “proposal” I even explain all of the mistakes past president’s have made and what we should learn from them.
The designation matters. Here’s an excerpt from my policy proposal:
“In my opinion, using the label: Foreign Terrorist Organization does not fit. For one, their violence and attacks are not politically or ideologically motivated. That is part of the definition of an FTO. I suggest instead that we label them as Commercial Insurgencies. Unlike the FTOs, the cartels meet the requirements to fall under that designation.
Here is the definition for Commercial Insurgencies: “Widespread and sustained criminal activities with a political dimension that challenges security of the state”(Tialios, 2023). We’ve already seen how they threaten and assassinate politicians who disagree or go against them. They also threaten and bribe government officials, membersof the military, and police officers.
They are obviously a danger to the state. Particularly, the Jalisco cartel with their military capabilities. Cartels have already overturned the governments in most of the territories in Mexico and maintain rule there. The definition continues, “As groups they implement coercion and violence to influence politics, economics, the military, and information media in order to profit from illicit activity.”
On January 22, 2022, Mexican Army troops were attacked by pro-cartel residents. They were able to confiscate weapons and gear from the Jalisco cartel and noted how their name and logo was emblazoned on everything. One descriptor of a Commercial Insurgency is the use of branded gear.”
If you’re interested in reading more of my “policy proposal,” you can view the entire document here.
Here we are, though. Trump is ready to send troops to the US Mexico border—1,500 troops to be exact. Let the chaotic presidency of a man lacking common sense, knowledge, and impulse control. Someone who doesn’t understand what they’re doing and who has no impulse control is a very dangerous combination of characteristics in someone with the nuclear codes.
President Donald Trump Wednesday invoked an executive order he signed on his first day in office to send 1,500 military troops to the southern border, despite encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border being the lowest in several years.
“President Trump is sending a very strong message to people around this world – if you are thinking about breaking the laws of the United States of America, you will be returned home. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, according to pool reports.
While Leavitt said 1,500 troops would be sent, she did not specify from where or when they would arrive at the border.
The comments by Leavitt followed a flurry of immigration-related orders that Trump signed on his first day in office cracking down on immigration in multiple ways.
One declared a national emergency at the southern border that outlined military support would be deployed “through the provision of appropriate detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistics services in support of civilian-controlled law enforcement operations.”
Other orders, some of which are already facing legal challenges, include the end of asylum and the move to end birthright citizenship for immigrants in the country without authorization, among other stipulations.
It’s not the first time an administration has sent U.S. military to the southern border. The Biden administration did so in 2023 amid high encounters of migrants. In fiscal year 2023, there were about 2.5 million encounters, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Troops largely handle administrative work, rather than law enforcement work, due to the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the U.S. military from performing civilian law enforcement duties.
However, that could change.
A separate executive order Trump signed Monday directs the secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense to evaluate within 90 days if the Insurrection Act should be invoked, which allows military action to be used in civilian law domestically.
The troops heading to the southern border will be doing so at a relatively quiet time period, as the most recent CBP data in December showed 96,000 encounters, compared to the December of fiscal year 2023, when there were 252,000 encounters.
Excerpts or more from this article, originally published on Kansas Reflector appear in this post. Republished, with permission, under a Creative Commons License.