‘It’s called an invasion’: Conservative lawmakers weigh in on how to stop migrant caravan

The migrant column composed of thousands of wannabe lawbreakers and bogus asylum-seekers presses onward towards our southern border, and congressional conservatives have a few different ways that they think the situation should be handled.

Following Monday’s reports that President Trump intends to send troops to the border to head off the caravan, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said that such a move by the commander in chief has his “full support.”

"Until Congress funds the border wall,” Brooks’ statement continued, the decision to militarily fortify our border “not only sends a strong message to the world that our borders will be secure, but more importantly preserves America’s national sovereignty."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the caravan a “serious threat” and also spoke supportively of the idea of calling in military support just hours before the president arrived for a campaign rally with him in Houston.

“When you see thousands of people pledging to come violate U.S. law, to cross into this country illegally, we have to treat that seriously. We have to stop it,” Cruz told reporters Monday. “Whether that means putting Border Patrol at the border to stop them or whether that means calling up the National Guard.”

In a phone conversation with CRTV, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said that another critical step will be to investigate whoever is helping the caravan’s efforts with financial contributions or legal assistance: "That’s aiding and abetting an illegal activity and they need to be held accountable."

Another thing that Gosar mentioned is finding a way to secure Mexico’s cooperation against this and future caravan efforts. He told me that he sees the current talks over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement as a good opportunity to do this.

“This is a perfect time to have this [kind of discussion with Mexico],” Gosar said. “Their economy hinges on our economy."

Meanwhile, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, gave a long and detailed list of policy items that ought to be pursued in response to the situation Monday on Fox News. These would include stopping payments going to people in the caravan, closing down the border, and making it so that asylum claims would have to be handled at U.S. diplomatic offices in the prospective refugee’s country of origin, rather than at our point of entry.

During the segment, Gohmert also headed off complaints against using the military to secure the border, noting that previous presidents — including even Woodrow Wilson — had done so before.

“All of these people trying to force their way in, it’s called an invasion,” Gohmert added in support of the idea of sending in troops. “And thank God we have a president who will stand up to an invasion like this.”

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