Donald Trump Grants New Authority to Troops to Protect Border Personnel

Washington: US President Donald Trump has approved a memorandum that grants new authority to US troops on the Southwest border to protect Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel from migrants if they engage in violence, according to the Pentagon. Department of Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told CNN on Wednesday that the Pentagon had received the memorandum.

The White House memo authorizes the troops to conduct activities such as “crowd control, temporary detention and cursory search”, according to the memorandum. It allows troops to use “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary)” in order to perform these protective activities. While some have questioned whether active duty troops detaining and searching people on US soil constitutes law enforcement, the memo, which is signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, said that US troops “shall not, without further direction from the President, conduct traditional civilian law enforcement activities, such as arrest, search, and seizure”. (IANS)