Whack-a-mole and the U.S. Border: Getting it Wrong - Pursuing a Military Solution to Law Enforcement Problems on our Border with Mexico

From our partners at Just the Facts

Getting it Wrong: Pursuing a Military Solution to Law Enforcement Problems on our Border with Mexico | Just the Facts: "A bill introduced at the end of the last Congress, and again at the beginning of this one, would greatly expand the U.S. National Guard’s mission on the border with Mexico. Introduced by Representative Ted Poe (R-Texas), the bill would require that “not less than” 10,000 additional National Guard troops be deployed along the border on what would turn out to be a permanent basis.

While the bill itself has little chance of passage – none of its co-sponsors in either Congress comes from a border district – it still merits a critical analysis. Rep. Poe and the bill’s other sponsors clearly intend to spark a debate about the role of the U.S. military, particularly the National Guard, on U.S. soil. What they propose, however, would set a disastrous precedent for U.S. civil-military relations and for the legal framework governing the National Guard’s mission, while having little impact on U.S. citizens’ security." Jan 12, 2011