Message from @dream catcher
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He said he was surprised when got his deployment orders sending him to the U.S.-Mexico border.
"But I'm happy to go where I'm needed" he added as a man walked by carrying shopping bags headed to Tijuana.
The U.S. military has deployed 5,800 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
So far, more are not expected, despite President Donald Trump's initial assessment that 10,000 to 15,000 were needed to secure the border against what he has called an "invasion" of migrants. Most in the caravan of several thousand are families, including hundreds of children.
Another 2,100 National Guard troops are have also been deployed since April as part of a separate mission. Like the military troops, they are not allowed to detain illegal crossers. Instead, they have been monitoring cameras and helping to erect barriers.
Of the 5,800 soldiers and Marines, more than 2,800 are in Texas, while about 1,500 are in Arizona and another 1,300 are in California. All U.S. military branches, except the Coast Guard, are barred from performing law enforcement duties.
That means there will be no visible show of armed troops, said Army Maj. Scott McCullough, adding that the mission is to provide support to Customs and Border Protection.
"Soldiers putting up wire on the border and barriers at the ports of entry will be the most visible," he said.
Marines and soldiers share the same duties in California and Arizona. These include erecting tents, setting up showers and arranging meals for troops working on the border, and assigning military police to protect them.
There are no tents or camps being set up to house migrants, McCullough said. Medics are on hand to treat troops and border patrol agents — not migrants — for cuts, bruises and any other problems.
Combat engineers — whose duties on the battlefield include setting up tactical obstacles to prevent the enemy from moving freely — are using their expertise to string wire on border walls and erect temporary fencing, McCullough said.
Construction engineers have been assigned to weld together barriers and move shipping containers to act as walls.
In Laredo, Texas, about 100 soldiers have been installing three layers of razor wire along the Rio Grande, working on the banks during the day and on the bridges at night to minimize the disruption to cross-border traffic.
The current mission is scheduled to end Dec. 15 for now. It's unclear how much it will cost and military leaders have refused to provide an estimate.
Critics have questioned the wisdom of using the military on the border where there is no discernible security threat. Since the Nov. 6 elections, Trump has said little about the matter and no border threat has materialized.
Some border communities fear the barricades will scare off Mexican shoppers. The city council in Nogales, Arizona, slashed a proposed bonus for all employees in half over concerns about how the military's presence would affect its sales tax revenue after the military closed off two lanes at its border crossing.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended the deployment during a visit to the Texas border this week, asserting that in some ways it provides good training for war.
Suyapa Reyes, 35, said she was puzzled as to why she would be seen as a threat. Reyes, her mother, 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son left Honduras with the caravan on Oct. 13, fleeing violence and poverty in her hometown of Olanchito de Oro.
She does not want to return after coming such a long way but if she cannot get asylum and the border looks too dangerous to cross, she said she'll have no other choice.
"I'm not going to risk my life or safety nor that of my children," she said.
@DarkSlayer you’re back
Check out @prayingmedic’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/prayingmedic/status/1063842393059815425?s=09
@retiredDep i am on phone with friend. one that had surgery.
@DarkSlayer that’s ok, talk to and cheer her day up
Check out @MAGAREX1’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/MAGAREX1/status/1063900949461164032?s=09
Kimball Musk is over one of the largest seed/food source supply of America.
LIVE NOW: Portland Police have closed off the sidewalks surrounding a counter-protest at Chapman Square. The demonstration supporting survivors of sexual assault is in response to a "Him Too" rally in Terry Schrunk Free Speech Plaza. Read more: k2ne.ws/2Q1yoNc
Him Too' rally met with counter-protests supporting sex assault survivors in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. – Several demonstrations are taking place in downtown Portland on Saturday afternoon, just days after the City Council voted down Mayor Ted Wheeler’s proposed protest ordinance.
Authorities made their presence felt at Terry Schrunk Free Speech Plaza and the adjacent Chapman Square, with several officers in riot control gear surrounding the spaces. Police also closed off a large portion of the square between the two groups and have ordered the surrounding sidewalks be closed.
An offshoot of the conservative Patriot Prayer group calling itself “Him Too” is staging a rally at 2 p.m. in Terry Schrunk Free Speech Plaza.
Organizer Haley Adams says it is not a protest, but an event for men to speak out. “#himtoo” references supporting men accused of sexual violence without proof.
The rally was met by several counter-protests to show solidarity with survivors of sexual assault and allow them to speak out.
The Portland Democratic Socialists of America first held a rally at 11:30 a.m. in the park blocks in front of the Portland Art Museum for a “Survivors Are Everywhere” rally.
Organizers have called the “Him Too” rally an attempt to both troll Portland and cast doubt on survivors of abuse.
A half-hour later, more people started gathering in Chapman Square, which is across Madison Street from Terry Schrunk Plaza, for a “Survivor Shout Out.” Authorities had closed off part of the square before the group arrived at the area.
The Rose City Antifa members were among those in the square. They were initially expected to fill Terry Schrunk Plaza an hour before the “Him Too” group is scheduled to arrive in the area, however police had barricaded off the square prior to their arrival.
The "Him Too" group, including Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, started gathering in the free speech plaza at about 1:30 p.m.
This all comes just days after the city council rejected a proposal aimed at keeping protests from turning violent with time/place/manner restrictions.
Mayor Wheeler’s ordinance cited several violent clashes between protest groups. Critics expressed concerns that it could infringe on constitutional rights.
TRUMP DEPARTS CALIFORNIA: President Donald J. Trump is departing Northern California where he toured the areas devastated by the massive and deadly wildfires. http://bit.ly/2OPp36c
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Members of a migrant caravan started to meet some local resistance as they continued to arrive by the hundreds in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where a group of residents clashed with migrants camped out by the U.S. border fence.
About 100 migrants declined offers of rides to shelters and had camped out late Wednesday by the steel border fence at Tijuana's beach area, when a similar number of local residents marched up to the group shouting, "You're not welcome," and, "Get out!"
Police kept the two sides apart.
Vladimir Cruz, a migrant from El Salvador, said Thursday, "These people are the racists, because 95 percent of people here support us."
"It is just this little group that doesn't support us," Cruz said. "They are uncomfortable because we're here."
Playas de Tijuana, as the area is known, is an upper-middle-class enclave, and residents appeared worried about crime and sanitation. One protester shouted, "This isn't about discrimination, it is about safety!"
There are real questions about how the city of Tijuana will manage to handle the migrant caravans working their way up through Mexico, and which may total 10,000 people in all.
"No city in the world is prepared to receive this number of migrants," said Mario Osuna, the Tijuana city social development director. He said the city hopes the federal government "will start legalizing these people immediately" so they could get jobs and earn a living in Tijuana.
The migrants, who slept in overcrowded shelters and in tents with a view of armed U.S. Border Patrol agents, said they will wait for other migrants to join them before making their next moves.
Hundreds of migrants have arrived by bus in Tijuana since Tuesday, occupying the little space still available in the city's shelters and spilling onto an oceanfront plaza sandwiched between an old bullring and a border fence topped with recently installed concertina wire.
The first arrivals generally received a warm welcome despite Tijuana's shelter system to house migrants being at capacity. Migrants lined up for food while doctors checked those fighting colds and other ailments.
Some migrants said they would seek asylum at a U.S. border crossing, while others said they might attempt to elude U.S. authorities by crossing illegally or perhaps settle in Tijuana. But all of about a dozen people interviewed Wednesday said they would first wait for others from the migrant caravan to arrive and gather more information.
Sorto said he would consider staying in Tijuana if he could get asylum from Mexico. He said he refused to consider Mexico's offer of asylum in the southern part of the country because it was too close to Honduras and he felt unsafe from his country's gangs.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, meanwhile, visited U.S. troops posted at the border in Texas and said the deployment of military personnel ordered by President Donald Trump provides good training for war, despite criticism that the effort is a waste of taxpayer money and a political stunt. Most of the troops are in Texas, more than 1,500 miles from where the caravan is arriving.
Dozens of gay and transgender participants in the caravan were already lining up Thursday to submit asylum claims, though it was unclear how soon they would be able to do so.
The San Ysidro port of entry, the busiest crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border, processes only about 100 asylum claims a day, resulting in waits of five weeks even before migrants in the caravan began to arrive.
The first wave of migrants in the caravan, which became a central theme of the recent U.S. election, began arriving in Tijuana in recent days, and their numbers have grown each day. The bulk of the main caravan appeared to still be about 350 miles (600 kilometers) from the border, but has recently been moving hundreds of miles a day by hitching rides on trucks and buses.
Mexico has offered refuge, asylum and work visas to the migrants, and its government said Monday that 2,697 temporary visas had been issued to individuals and families to cover them during the 45-day application process for more permanent status. Some 533 migrants had requested a voluntary return to their countries, the government said.