BORDER/IMMIGRATION/JAMES MATTIS/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House has authorized active-duty military troops stationed along the southwest border to use lethal force, if necessary, a significant escalation of the support role they had been tasked with that may run afoul of a 140-year-old law that generally bars the military from operating within U.S. boundaries. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed a memo late Tuesday expanding the mission of the 5,800 troops to include protecting Customs and Border Protection agents. That represents a sharp change in the orders given to troops currently deployed in California, Arizona and Texas, who had been lining the border with concertina wire and providing only logistical support to CBP personnel. Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed the new guidelines to reporters on Wednesday but downplayed the level of interaction his troops will have with migrants. He said most troops aren’t carrying weapons and that the military would stay away from civilian law enforcement roles such as arrests, which are forbidden under in the Posse Comitatus Act.”
–Bart Jansen,John Fritze and Alan Gomez, “White House approves military to use lethal force at southern border,” USA Today, November 21, 2018 6:22 pm