With illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border spiking again, our Department of Defense has apparently decided that now is the appropriate time to remove troops from the border.
The Pentagon announced earlier this month that it is removing 1,100 active-duty troops from the southern border after they were deployed in May following the termination of Title 42. While the initial mission was supposed to be for only 90 days, the timing of the withdrawal is peculiar given the surge of illegal aliens the U.S. experienced in July.
The number of illegal aliens apprehended at the border skyrocketed by more than 30 percent last month, even as temperatures in the Texas and Arizona border sectors soared to record highs. This surge came even as the Biden Administration has made it easier for aliens to fast track themselves into the country through the CBP One app, which had the effect of artificially lowering illegal crossings in previous months.
It’s worth noting that these troops were not serving a law enforcement role at the border, but rather assisting in processing aliens into the country. The Biden Administration’s initial deployment of troops was wholly inadequate to take on the crisis the country is facing at the border. Still, the simple presence of more than one thousand members of the military at the southern border likely served as at least a modest deterrent for those seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.
On the flip side, aspiring migrants and the cartels who seek to exploit them will now see headlines about the White House withdrawing troops, which will likely serve as additional encouragement to make the dangerous trek through Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The cartels that control the flow of migrants to our border are not stupid, and understand that this withdrawal of troops will make it easier for them to get their human cargo into the country. Because of this decision, more foreign nationals will embark on the dangerous journey to the U.S., and many of them will tragically not make it.
Last month, at least 125 migrants perished while attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Many of these deaths were heat-related, and the record temperatures that we’ve experienced this summer make this a particularly dangerous time for migrants to come to the country. To prevent future tragedies, the administration should be hardening the border to deter illegal crossings. Instead, they are withdrawing troops and continuing to encourage foreign nationals to put their lives at risk.
The Pentagon exists to defend U.S. national security, and the U.S. faces no greater national security threat than its open border. If the Biden Administration was serious about protecting U.S. national security, they would be sending more troops to the border, not withdrawing them. The administration could also give these troops law enforcement authority in order to allow them to battle the cartels that are waging war on our sovereignty and flooding our country with deadly fentanyl.
Earlier this month, images emerged of suspected cartel members armed with rifles and wearing body armor coming across the southern border. Would the cartels dare try these heavy-handed tactics if our military was given the authority to stop them?
When a sovereign country comes under invasion, the response should be to send more troops, not fewer. The U.S. has the strongest military in the world, and the Biden Administration could use it to put an end to the border crisis any time it wants. This is not an option this administration will ever consider, however, given its anti-borders agenda.
Almost every policy Biden has adopted on immigration over the past two and a half years has had the effect of increasing illegal immigration and empowering the cartels. This administration does not seek to halt the invasion, but instead seeks to facilitate it.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.