Statement on Trump Plan to Send Additional Troops to the Border
Washington, D.C. – House Armed Services Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) released the following statement about President Trump’s announcement that he plans to send 800 additional U.S. troops to the border:
“The President’s announcement that he will send more troops to the border is fundamentally wrong and a political act at a time when leadership is needed. We should not be militarizing the border, and President Trump has offered no clear idea of what our forces are going to do there. We have seen no evidence that it was helpful or effective when he sent the National Guard to the border in April.
“The caravan of people that the President is focused on are coming to seek asylum, and they have a lawful right to do so. There is absolutely no reason to further politicize and militarize this humanitarian crisis.
“These men, women, and children are fleeing poverty and violence in a very unstable part of the world. The United States should be leading efforts to bring the countries of the region together to figure out what can be done to reduce the horrific conditions that are causing people to flee. I don’t have any illusions that this is going to be easy, and it doesn’t fall solely on the United States to resolve these issues, but our role as a global leader should be focused on bringing countries in the region together to make progress on these humanitarian challenges, instead of isolating ourselves in a show of military force.”