Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on President Trump's decision to deploy additional troops to the southern border. The President's orders are consistent with President Obama's 2010 and President Bush's 2006 deployment of troops to assist with border security. Thornberry said:
"A fundamental responsibility of any country's government is to control who and what comes across its border. Allowing thousands of people to cross America's southern borders in contravention of our laws is not a sustainable solution to the difficult conditions driving people out of their homes and countries in Central America. Mexico should secure its own territory and turn this caravan around. At the same time, we must take appropriate steps, as Presidents Obama and Bush did, to carry out the essential duties of a national government."