President Joe Biden authorized the deployment of reserve troops to the southern border to combat “international drug trafficking” under the National Emergencies Act in an executive order signed April 27.
The executive order authorizes the secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to order to active duty reserve troops as they “consider necessary.”
“I am authorizing the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to order to active duty such units and individual members of the Ready Reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned,” Biden wrote in a subsequent letter to Congress. “The authorities that have been invoked will ensure the Department of Defense can properly sustain its support of the Department of Homeland Security concerning international drug trafficking along the Southwest Border.”
The administration explained the reservist authorization is a response to a previous national emergency declaration, signed by Biden in December 2021, related to drug trafficking across the southern border.
That executive order from 2021 authorized the Treasury Secretary to impose sanctions on foreign persons involved in global illicit drug trafficking.
“I … find that the trafficking into the United States of illicit drugs, including fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, is causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually, as well as countless more non-fatal overdoses with their own tragic human toll,” Biden wrote in 2021’s executive order. “Drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and their facilitators are the primary sources of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals that fuel the current opioid epidemic, as well as drug-related violence that harms our communities. “
DHS, State Department Announce ‘Sweeping’ New Measures
The Biden administration also on Thursday announced “sweeping” new measures to “further reduce unlawful migration across the Western Hemisphere” after the Title 42 public health order ends.
“But the lifting of the Title 42 order does not mean the border is open,” according to a DHS fact sheet announcing new measures. “When the Title 42 order lifts at 11:59 PM on May 11, the United States will return to using Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the U.S. border unlawfully.”
By Chase Smith
