Aaron Brown
History graduate student Aaron Brown authored a column at the History News Network headlined “The Militarization of the US-Mexico Border is Not a New Idea.”
Brown is pursuing a PhD in history and a Contemporary History Certificate at Ohio University.
President Trump has said that as many as 15,000 U.S. troops could be deployed to the border with Mexico as approximately 3,500 migrants from mainly Honduras make their way north. His critics were incensed, saying he was playing politics with the immigration issue as elections fast approached. House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA), for example, said that “the president’s (decision) is fundamentally wrong and a political act at a time when leadership is needed. We should not be militarizing the border, and President Trump has offered no clear idea of what our forces are going to do there.”
There are legitimate reasons to be skeptical of Trump’s motive for deploying troops to the southern frontier. His claim that the migrant caravan has been infiltrated by terrorists and gang members has raised eyebrows, as no evidence has been presented to suggest that such a thing has occurred. Still, it is important to remember that the “militarization” of the border is not a new idea. In fact, Richard Nixon started a process of militarization in 1969 that has continued until today.
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