US President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday that if members of the migrant caravan throw rocks at the Border Patrol or military troops at the US-Mexico border, they will be arrested, but no one will start shooting at them.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2018) US President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday that if members of the migrant caravan throw rocks at the Border Patrol or military troops at the US-Mexico border, they will be arrested, but no one will start shooting at them.
When Trump was asked if he approved of troops firing at migrants, Trump told reporters, "They won't have to fire. What I don't want is people throwing rocks... They do that with us, they're going to be arrested, there's gonna be problems. I didn't say shoot. But they do that with us, they'll be arrested for a long time."
On Thursday, Trump said that the US military will consider any migrants who throw a rock or stone at them to be using a firearm.
Trump is deploying 5,000 military personnel to the US-Mexico border as the migrant caravan moves toward the area, but has said he could increase the number of troops to 15,000.
The caravan set out from Honduras in the direction of Mexico and the United States on October 13 in the hope of obtaining asylum. According to UN estimates, the caravan includes more than 7,000 migrants. However, Mexican authorities have said that the caravan marching through its territory included around 3,600 migrants, and approximately 1,750 people who applied for asylum in Mexico.
On Monday, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said that the CBP is tracking a second caravan of about 3,000 asylum-seekers on the Guatemala-Mexico border.
