Trump orders National Guard to Mexican border
AFP / VICTORIA RAZOCentral American migrants taking part in the "Migrant Via Crucis" caravan towards the United States choose clothes from a donated pile as they camp at a sport complex in Matias Romero, Oaxaca
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the National Guard to deploy to America's southern border, ratcheting up pressure on Mexico and taking another step in his quest to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Trump's latest border move came the same day as a caravan of Central American migrants -- whose trek across Mexico had infuriated the US president -- scrapped their highly publicized plans to try to enter the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Trump had directed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to work with border state governors to figure out how to deploy National Guard forces to assist Border Patrol agents.
"The president has reiterated this many times: A sovereign nation that cannot -- or worse, chooses not to -- defend its borders will soon cease to be a sovereign nation," Nielsen said.
"We do hope that the deployment begins immediately," she added. "Today is the day we want to start this process. The threat is real."
The sudden action, which comes as lawmakers are out on Easter break, follows Trump taking to Twitter to rail against "ridiculous liberal" border laws, and warn of an inbound "caravan" of immigrants, threatening to axe the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico did not stop them.
Caravan leaders on Wednesday said most of the group -- about 80 percent -- would now remain in Mexico, where authorities are working with individual migrants and families to get temporary papers.
"All they want is a place to live in peace, where they can work without having guns pointed at them, without being forced to join a gang," said Irineo Mujica, the head of migrant advocacy group People Without Borders (Pueblo sin Fronteras).
A handful of migrants with strong asylum claims will continue to the US border on their own, he said.
"Donald Trump wanted the world to crush us, to erase our existence. But Mexico responded admirably and we thank the government for the way it handled this caravan," Mujica told AFP in the town of Matias Romero, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Trump has ratcheted up pressure on both Congress and America's southern neighbor Mexico in recent days to take action to stem illegal immigration.
"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump said Tuesday, referring to his financially challenged pet project to build a wall along the frontier.
The commander-in-chief's seemingly off-the-cuff military directive caught Pentagon officials by surprise, and planners on Wednesday scrambled to find ways to support the edict.
Nielsen said the US continues to see "unacceptable levels" of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration flow across the southern border.
She and other administration officials boasted of a "Trump effect" that saw illicit border activity drop when Trump took office, but said the numbers of illegal border crossings had now risen back to previous levels.
- Last stop: Mexico City -
In Mexico, the 1,000 or so migrants who currently make up the caravan -- many traveling in families of up to 20 people -- have been camped in Matias Romero since the weekend, deciding their next move.
The group, mainly Hondurans, also includes Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans, mostly fleeing the brutal gang violence that has made Central America home to some of the highest murder rates in the world.
The caravan is in fact a yearly event held since 2010 and its goal is more to raise awareness about the plight of migrants than to reach the United States -- though some participants have traveled to the border in the past.
Mexico's former foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, called Trump's reaction to the caravan "a little hysterical," telling Mexican radio that he suspected the US president was more worried about his Republican party losing this November's mid-term elections than the migrants.
"He's just mobilizing his conservative base," he said.
The caravan, which set off on March 25 from Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, now plans to travel to the central city of Puebla for a conference, then on to Mexico City for a series of demonstrations -- and end its journey there.
The Mexican government, which bristled at Trump's criticism and his move to militarize the border, said Monday it was up to the United States to decide whether to admit such arrivals or not.
Many of the migrants said they had no intention of trying to enter the US.
Carol Torres, a 26-year-old Honduran woman, told AFP she joined the caravan after her abusive husband hired gang hitmen to attack her, forcing her to leave her two children behind.
She said she planned to settle in Tijuana, on the Mexican side of the border -- not cross into the United States.
"I don't believe in the American dream, because the president over there is a son of a bitch who doesn't like immigrants," she said.
Trump promises Syria pullout, but sets no end date
AFP/File / Olivier DoulieryPresident Donald Trump shocked allies by declaring that the 2,000 US troops in Syria would come home soon, but US officials moved to scotch talk of a precipitous pull-out
President Donald Trump's White House vowed Wednesday that the US mission in Syria would come to a "rapid end" but failed to put a timetable on an eventual withdrawal.
Just days after Trump shocked aides and allies by declaring that the 2,000 troops would come home soon, US officials moved to scotch talk of a precipitous pullout.
The decision will reassure those in Washington pushing for a longer commitment to countering Russian and Iranian influence in a Syria still wracked by civil war.
But the hawks' relief may not last; the White House statement made it clear that the mission will continue only as long as it takes to defeat the beleaguered Islamic State group.
And, with only a few thousand IS fighters thought to remain, the rationale for keeping US troops alongside Kurdish and Arab militia allies in the east of Syria may soon expire.
"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed," the White House said.
"The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated," it added.
Trump also spoke by telephone to President Emmanuel Macron of France. After the call, Macron's office said both "remain determined" to pursue the battle against the IS group.
This determination appeared lacking last week, when Trump triggered speculation about a withdrawal by lamenting that America had wasted $7 trillion fighting in the Middle East.
"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," he vowed, in a speech.
US officials confirmed that spending on the mission is under review, and White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: "We want to focus on transitioning to local enforcement."
Trump's outbursts have called into a question a policy outlined in January that troops would stabilize areas recaptured from the IS jihadists and boost US influence over Syria's future.
Then secretary of state Rex Tillerson argued US forces must remain to prevent IS and Al-Qaeda from returning and to deny Iran a chance "to further strengthen its position in Syria."
And he warned that "a total withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore" Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to "continue his brutal treatment against his own people."
Trump has since sacked Tillerson, but US military commanders and diplomats have continued to work to implement the policy, including efforts to stabilize eastern Syria.
- Lasting defeat -
As recently as Tuesday, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, General Joe Votel, said: "Of course there is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase."
And US diplomat Brett McGurk, the president's special envoy for the war against the Islamic State, said much work remains to be done to ensure the group's lasting defeat.
But questions remain over a $200 million US pledge to pay for this endeavor, and Trump has publicly suggested that Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia should step up to pay.
The White House's decision appears to grant the mission a reprieve, but if Trump does not want to stay the course, he may leave room for Russia and Iran to step in.
As Trump was meeting his commanders in Washington, the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran were issuing a joint statement calling for a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria.
The three have been working to find a political solution in Syria under the Astana process, which began last year in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.
Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to secure their own interests and to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels.
Washington is a bitter foe of Iran's and has criticized Russia's support for a regime accused of slaughtering and starving civilians -- and of using banned chemical weapons.
But US allies and Trump's more hawkish advisers fear a rapid American departure from eastern Syria would oblige America's Kurdish allies there to seek a compromise with Damascus.
And Iran would be free to extend its role to the Iraqi border, creating a continuous zone of influence between Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which has also deployed to Syria.
America's European allies also want the troops to stay on. A British SAS soldier was killed alongside a US comrade in Syria last week and France is reportedly sending reinforcements.
On Wednesday, the United States, Britain, France and Germany marked the first anniversary of an alleged Syrian sarin attack that killed 80 people by vowing to hold Assad to account.
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