Until a wall on the southern border can be built, President Donald Trump this week expressed a desire to deploy the military to South Texas, but that's not sitting well with some who wonder what they'll be doing, 1200 WOAI News reports.
"These guys are not Border Patrol or ICE," Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) says. "The functions, responsibilities and legal duties are totally different."
Speaking this week during a White House visit with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, President Trump expressed frustration with Congress, which is refusing to rubber stamp the coast-to-coast wall he promised while on the campaign trail.
"We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court."
The quotes come as the White House has begun pushing a new hard line approach to asylum seekers. Proposals would make it more difficult to claim that they face a "credible fear" in their home country. The policy would also limit the number of political refugees who can apply for protection.
The Justice Department, on Monday, told immigration judges that there will be quotes on their caseloads ."Mexico & Canada have tough immigration laws, whereas ours are an Obama joke. ACT CONGRESS," the President tweeted.
That drew sharp remarks from immigration attorneys, like Lance Curtright of San Antonio, who has long bemoaned the overburdened immigration court system.
"What sounds ridiculous is for the President to call due process of law a 'whole big wasted process,'" he replied.
Congressman Castro (D-San Antonio), who sits on the House Select Intelligence Committee, says our military have bigger fish to fry than helping local police, state police and National Guardsmen with logistics. He points to Russia's encroachment in the Baltics and China’s militarization of islands along a key trade route.
"There is a lot of military threats and challenges around the world that we need to use our military for."