Search This Blog

Friday, February 17, 2017

More Fake News -- The National Guard To Round Up Illegal Aliens

Did you see the news reports from the AP that the Department of Homeland Security is planning to use 100,000 national guard troops to round up illegal aliens in 11 states?  It's total garbage, but it is all over the place.

I'm not sure if the entire story is fabricated or if there really is a memo written by a low level staffer at DHS to propose this plan.  Remember, Homeland Security is tasked with coming up with a plan to carry out the increased border security and the removal of illegal aliens who have criminal records or who are members of gangs.  The Department also has to plan for future possibilities.  If the memo really exists, then it was written by someone as a possible way to proceed.  That's a lot different than an actual memo written after a decision to follow this plan.  Here's the key points:

1.  The White House says that any such memo is not a White House document.  That means that if it exists, it was not generated by the White House.

2.  The White House also said today that there is no plan to use national guard troops to round up illegal aliens.

3.  The Department of Homeland Security said that none of the leadership of the department had seen any such memo and repeated that there was no plan to use the national guard to round up illegal aliens.

4.  The AP makes a big deal of the supposed fact that the name of the Secretary of DHS, General Kelly, appears on the memo.  Since any such memo would be released in his name, having his name at the top of the memo doesn't indicate that he approved or even saw the memo.  Obviously, before any such plan was put into action it would have to be approved within the Department and then by the President.

5.  None of the governors of the 11 states supposedly involved have been contacted with regard to using the national guard troops for their states to implement this supposed plan.  The guard cannot be used without the approval of those governors.

So what do we really have?  There may be a memo that somebody wrote to propose using the national guard in this way.  No one in authority took part in the drafting, or approved the plan.  There is lots of proof that no one is making any effort to implement such a plan.  On top of that, the White House says there is no plan to use national guard troops.  In other words, the claims in the original reports are just more fake news.

Now before we get the screamers who shout that the very existence of a draft plan means that the Trump administration means to use it, let me remind you all of something important.  The government makes contingency plans for all kinds of things, most of which never come to pass.  Right now, there are surely plans in the Pentagon as to how to carry out the invasion of Canada.  We surely also have plans about how to launch a nuclear war against China.  That does not mean that the invasion/war is about to happen or even that anyone is pushing for that to happen. 

The AP should be ashamed of itself for publishing such an incendiary story which it well knows is nothing real.  The other media that picked up the story and ran with it should likewise be ashamed.  Of course, those in the media do not see the shame.  That, in a nutshell, is why most people don't trust the media anymore.

No comments: