Military at US border amps up tension

Brownsville, Texas -- Our active-duty military are at the U.S.-Mexico border. As a way of keeping illegal migrants from infiltrating into the country, the military is laying out coils of razor wire [aka: concertina wire] along a bridge and a riverbank Friday. There is tension in the air across the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Although President Trump has called the migrant caravans a "crisis," it's not quite as much of a crisis as it is a visual ploy by the left. Still, the mainstream media is somehow blaming Trump for the invasion, as if he was the one who organized the mob, rather than Soros and the left. In fact, it was recently discovered that Soros is teaming up with Mastercard to hand out money to the aliens.

Trump also portrays the caravans as a  border under siege by drug smugglers and other miscreants. But the residents in the border towns along the 1,954 miles that divide the U.S. with Mexico, don't generally feel that way as their towns are among the safest in the country.

Some residents in the Valley believe the military presence will tarnish the area's image, and some fear violence when the caravan of migrants arrives and clashes with the military.

The southern tip of Texas has the most illegal aliens trying to cross into the country. Border agents make many arrests away from the public eye, along the dirt paths and roads and the uninhabited banks of the Rio Grande. But now, instead of treating migrants like a sports fisherman catching a trout, the migrants will not be released within the U.S. as before.

"I feel safer here than when I go up to bigger cities," said Emmanuel Torres, a lifelong Rio Grande Valley resident who works at a Brownsville coffee shop.

The Pentagon said over 3,500 troops have been deployed to staging areas along the border, including 1,000 U.S. Marines in California. On Friday, however, there were only about 100 troops at the border working at and near a bridge leading to McAllen, Texas, the Valley's second largest city with about 140,000 people. Brownsville is the largest with about 200,000.

The largest caravan is still weeks away from the U.S. border as they travel through Mexico.

The military is being used as a support role, helping border agents. The president has said, however, if our troops face rock-throwing migrants, they should react as if the rocks were rifles, because they are dangerous weapons. Whether that means the military would actually start shooting, is unclear, but if they do, I suggest they use rubber bullets.

"It's all preparation in anticipation of the caravan," said Manuel Padilla Jr., the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector chief. "We're hoping that these people do not show up at the border. They're not going to be allowed in."

It's about time we had an administration that upholds the law.

Conchita Padilla [no relation to Manuel] is a volunteer at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art. She believes the U.S. has the right to defend its borders but admits she's frightened by the troops because she doesn't know how they'll react to the caravan.

"My worry is that if they fight each other, there might be innocent people in the way that are suffering consequences," Padilla, 66, said. "We are just praying that they go in peace."


Please click the "Follow" button in the margin and be sure to get the latest Brain Flushings at a computer near you. Also, please visit the ads on this page because it helps the economy and me.



Tweet