President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen reportedly opposed the president’s recent order which broadened the U.S. military’s power on the southern border.
While deciding whether to sign an order that gives the more than 5,700 deployed military troops at the border the ability to “show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search,” Kelly and Nielsen argued against the order, claiming Trump did not have the constitutional authority to enact such a plan, according to three unnamed sources from Politico.
During a White House meeting this week, the anonymous sources claim, Kelly and Nielsen attempted to convince the president that the order was not constitutional, while senior adviser Stephen Miller, President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council Chris Crane, and President of the Border Patrol Union Brandon Judd argued in support of the order.
The sources told Politico that Kelly was the last administration official involved in discussions to support the border military order, saying Nielsen originally voiced opposition but vowed to support the plan when she discovered that Trump would sign the order.- READ MORE