There seems to be a bit of Trump-style mission creep happening for U.S. troops deployed to the U.S. / Mexico border.The Trump administration has sent roughly 4,000 US troops and 2,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S. / Mexico border. The troops were deployed — according to the administration — to help assist U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials. The move was widely considered political theater-part of Trump’s long-running campaign against immigrants. Several governors have refused to deploy their states’ National Guard troops.

Now the Pentagon has announced the deployment of 300-plus additional troops — and the force’s mission is being expanded with some rules for engagement loosened. The changes, they say, expand the mission but are still designed to keep the military from violating longstanding prohibitions on military participation in domestic law enforcement.

Govexec.com reports these tasks and numbers include:

• 160 troops who will be “driving high-capacity [Customs and Border Protection] vehicles to transport migrants;”
• 100 more troops for “administrative support” work like cooking and passing out food, building or improving heaters, and “monitoring the welfare of individuals in CBP custody;”
• 20 more troops for “attorney support” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel already in the region.

The Washington Post writes that soldiers will be able to hand out snacks and refreshments such as crackers and juice boxes. And will now be allowed to drive CBP vehicles […] military personnel would remain in a “segregated driver’s compartment” when driving migrants to detention facilities. Customs and Border Protection officials would provide security on those trips.

Handing out crackers, juice boxes and sitting in “segregated driver’s compartments,” well, that all sounds benign enough.

But in early April at the Texas border Donald Trump bemoaned to reporters that constraints prohibited the troops from getting as rough as he’d like. […] “Our military, don’t forget, can’t act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy. They have all these horrible laws that the Democrats won’t change [and] they will not change them,” the president said, without explaining what laws he means, or how his political opponents thwarted him.

So how benign can a tense situation remain when Trump, the Commander-in-chief is openly wishing the law would allow the situation to get “a little rougher?” Who does he think he is? Two guesses, and the first one doesn’t count — or as DT’s friend would say, “первый на не в счет ! ”