The migrant caravan thought the coast was clear.
Nearly 6,000 migrants had amassed at the border in preparation of an invasion.
But then Donald Trump gave the order that stopped the caravan dead in its tracks.
Donald Trump Authorizes Military To Defend Against Violent Migrants
Americans were horrified by a video from Mexico that showed violent migrants in the caravan running roughshod over Mexican law enforcement and military.
Thugs throwing rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktail bombs had stormed through barriers on their way to the U.S. Southern border.
Donald Trump was not about to allow a repeat of that debacle.
So his administration authored a memo allowing the military to use force to defend themselves if necessary.
The White House memo revealed the caravan “may prompt incidents of violence and disorder that could threaten U.S. Customs and Border personnel and other United States government personnel performing the Federal functions necessary to secure and protect the integrity of the southern border.”
Trump’s memo – which was signed by Chief of Staff John Kelly – declared the military was authorized to use “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search,” in order to stop the caravan if the migrants became violent.
Mattis told reporters that the mission parameters had not yet changed.
The military was just on the border to provide logistical support.
That’s because the fake news media took this common sense step to whip up scare stories of troops gunning down women and children in a bloody massacre.
James Mattis Shuts Down The Fake News Media
This was all fake news according to Mattis.
“There has been no call for any lethal force from [the Department of Homeland Security],” Mattis said. “We don’t have guns in their hands right now other than a couple of [non-commissioned officers] who at any point … are armed for force protection.”
“So there is no armed element going in … I will determine it based upon what DHS asks for, and a mission analysis, and when we do that, we’ll let you know what it is,” the Secretary of Defense declared.
The fake news media also tried to claim Trump’s order to deploy the troops to the border was illegal.
So-called “journalists” lied and pushed the falsehood that the deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act which prevents the military from operating on U.S. soil.
Mattis shut down this fake news.
“The one point I want to make is, again, we are not doing law enforcement. We do not have arrest authority,” Mattis told reporters.
Mattis revealed that the military’s role was only in support of the border patrol.
They will put up barriers and do minimal crowd control.
“In other words, if someone’s beating on a border patrolman, and if we were in position to do something about it, we could stop them from beating on him, and take him over and deliver him over to a border patrolman who would then arrest him for it,” he said.
The American people elected Donald Trump for this very moment.
And they were thrilled to see him set about making good on their trust.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.