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Judi Lynn

(160,218 posts)
Tue Oct 19, 2021, 09:48 PM Oct 2021

Trump Staffers Reportedly Wanted To Send 250,000 Troops To U.S.-Mexico Border

Oct 19, 2021,06:42pm EDT

Joe Walsh
Joe WalshForbes Staff

Members of former President Donald Trump’s administration suggested closing off the southern border last year by deploying a massive contingent of U.S. military personnel, a drastic idea the secretary of defense shot down, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

As federal officials strategized to control the spread of Covid-19 in early 2020, White House advisor and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller pushed Department of Homeland Security staffers to specify how many troops they’d need to completely close off the southern border, the Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper later reportedly discovered DHS and U.S. Northern Command had discussed using up to 250,000 troops at the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea he immediately balked at, according to the Times.

Administration officials didn’t present the plan to Trump, the Times reported, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said a proposal to dispatch a massive number of troops to the border did not reach his desk, though he said the federal government discussed ways to close the southern border if needed.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/10/19/trump-staffers-reportedly-wanted-to-send-250000-troops-to-us-mexico-border/?sh=733d0f9c4983

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