Posse Comitatus Act: The Military on the Border

[Luddly Neddite]

Posse Comitatus Act and the US Military on the Border

On May 15, 2006, President Bush, in "Operation Jumpstart," ordered up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the states along the Mexican border to support the Border Patrol in controlling illegal immigration and related criminal activities on U.S. soil. On July 19, 2010, President Obama ordered an additional 1,200 Guard troops to the southern border. While this buildup is substantial, the Posse Comitatus Act limits the Guard troops to acting only in support of the U.S. Border Patrol, and state and local law enforcement officers.

Posse Comitatus and Martial Law

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of U.S. military forces to perform the tasks of civilian law enforcement such as arrest, apprehension, interrogation and detention unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

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What the National Guard will not do on the Border

The Posse Comitatus Act and subsequent legislation specifically prohibit the use of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines to enforce the domestic laws of the United States except when expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. Since it enforces maritime safety, environmental and trade laws, the Coast Guard is exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act.

While Posse Comitatus does not specifically apply to the actions of the National Guard, National Guard regulations stipulate that its troops, unless authorized by Congress, are not to take part in typical law enforcement actions including arrests, searches of suspects or the public, or evidence handling.

What the National Guard will do on the Border

Operating within the limitations of the Posse Comitatus Act, and as acknowledged by the Obama administration, National Guard troops deployed to the Mexican Border States will, as directed by the states' governors, support the Border Patrol and state and local law enforcement agencies by providing surveillance, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance support. In addition, the troops will assist with "counternarcotics enforcement" duties until additional Border Patrol agents are trained and in place. The Guard troops may also assist in the construction of roads, fences, surveillance towers and vehicle barriers necessary to prevent illegal border crossings.

Under the Defense Authorization Act for FY2007 (H.R. 5122), the Secretary of Defense, upon a request from the Secretary of Homeland Security, can also assist in preventing terrorists, drug traffickers, and illegal aliens from entering the United States.

Someone needs to send this to Rick (oops) Perry.

 

[Moonglow]

Rick don't mind wasting taxpayer cash on a political stunt...

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Rick don't mind wasting taxpayer cash on a political stunt...

At more than $million a week, its money well invested for him. It won't have any effect on the border but, as we've seen here, low-info RWs will eat it up.

Intellectually, Perry is the Texasss equivalent of $tupid $arah Palin but I'd bet he's running for prez again.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Interesting that all the RWs who were kissing Perry's feet here yesterday have not had anything to say about the facts of Perry's actions.

 

[peach174]

What the NG will be doing;
The guard would be "force multipliers" who help border patrol agents catch those crossing the border who aren't children and to combat ancillary crime associated with smuggling and drug cartels.

Border Patrol agents don't just keep away uninvited visitors. They also act as a deterrent to the host of street crimes that bad guys might engage in along the border that has nothing to do with immigrants: drug dealing, shootouts, robbery, sexual assault, cartels raiding stash houses and stealing from one another, etc. That is what is going on at our back door as we speak. It's total mayhem.

The Border Patrol can stop some of it, but only if the National Guard frees its hands to do so. Which is what they will be doing.

I didn't see anyone on left who was upset when in 2010, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, deployed the National Guard to patrol the border after the murder of an Arizona rancher.

 

[OldUSAFSniper]

As a member of a state where 5,000 illegal aliens between the ages of 12 and 17 will be housed in Ft. Sill, I commend and support Governor Perry's decision to send National Guard troops to the border. I know that he is also sending Texas Rangers and DPS Troopers to the border that the Guard will support. I would support the Oklahoma Governor sending assistance to Texas as well, because we are directly affected by this outrage.

What I don't support is the amateurish foreign policy of a mindless political hack who allows not only his very own country to be in jeopardy because of his inactions, but also allows these children to suffer the results of attempting to travel here or the shrieking liberals who scream at the top of their lungs about something they know nothing about.

Last weekend, my church and I, along with Catholic Charities and three other churches, drove a U-Haul truck filled with clothes, tennis shoes and toys to Ft. Sill for those children. Hundreds of those shoes were brand new, purchased with money that I not only donated but help raise over the last week. Father Doyle, who speaks Spanish, and I were actually able to speak with a couple of the older children. They spoke of the dead bodies of children that they saw along the way, of the coyotes raping some of the women/girls and how most of what they had was taken from them. They spoke of not eating for days. For one young man from Guatemala, what we gave him was the first NEW pair of shoes he had ever had in his life. And we prayed with them and asked God to protect them.

Your words, like your actions, as usual are meaningless.