Press Release
Published on January 29, 2019
Washington, D.C.—In response to today’s hearing at the House Armed Services Committee hearing entitled, “Department of Defense’s Support to the Southern Border,” at which DoD personnel defended last fall’s decision to deploy active duty troops to the U.S. border with Mexico, Human Rights First President and CEO, Mike Breen, issued the following statement:
Like the men and women currently in uniform, I joined the military to defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. But when I look to our southern border, and at the vulnerable people that are there seeking protection, I see no military threat, only a group of brave people asking America for help.
The situation at the border is not a crisis; it is a political fiasco of the president’s own creation. Deploying active duty military to the border to respond to a humanitarian situation does nothing to make our country more safe, and undermines readiness. The administration needs to stop its obsession with concrete and steel, and instead give our asylum system the support it actually needs.
