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Former president Donald Trump has announced that if he is reelected for the presidency, he will move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to the US-Mexico border. His plans for his updated version of the border policies include eliminating all open border measures put in place by the Biden administration in order to stop the “invasion” as he puts it. It is still unknown if he will face legal deterrents, but his aversion to illegal immigration is shared by his party; the Republican party, as one in six of them view immigration as the third most concerning threat to the country, only beaten by crime and the economical issues the country is facing currently.
Though I believe that there are security concerns that come with having an open border, the mobilization of thousands of troops that were already stationed elsewhere is an extreme response, especially due to the scope of the border they are defending. Keeping such a large area on lockdown is unsustainable, and a band-aid solution, if anything. They can’t guard it forever, and those troops could be better utilized somewhere else. Trump’s outspoken opinion on illegal immigrants isn’t baseless, the drugs being smuggled in along with tragedies such as 9/11 made security a bigger concern than it’s ever been, which can be seen in the increase in airport security in particular. But to use “any and all resources needed to stop the invasion, including moving thousands of troops currently stationed overseas” is very much a blunder.
This relates to international relations because the border issue isn’t just American business, as conversations concerning the border have been going on for a long time. Trump once declared that he was going to “build a great wall” and “will have Mexico pay for that wall,” so they’ve always been in the conversation, or at least as long as Trump has been in a position of power. This dynamic and history will surely impact future events between the two neighboring countries like how critical junctures still affect our world and how it operates today. The border problem will certainly impact how Mexico and the United States interact with each other in the future.