The Trump administration was considering sending hundreds of thousands of National Guard troops to "round up" illegal immigrants in the United States, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press on Friday.
BREAKING: Trump administration considers mobilizing as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants.
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 17, 2017
The proposal, the AP noted, would not just affect states bordering Mexico.
The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana. If the proposal is implemented, governors in the affected states would have final approval on whether troops under their control participate.
You could sense that Trump opponents were ready to pounce on the news to again try and depict the White House as compassionless. Yet, as it turns out, the memo the AP decided to report on was just a draft.
As expected, this is a DRAFT MEMO that could never get signed. Nonetheless, it has been considered per AP write-thru now on the wire. pic.twitter.com/QHLdAQdeX8
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 17, 2017
Trump White House officials had a simple response.
Not true. https://t.co/T8rA87kJaU
— Michael C. Short (@MCShort45) February 17, 2017
Not true. 100% false https://t.co/EkTMKzhHPs
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) February 17, 2017
This hastened report comes a day after Trump's press conference in which he spent an hour lambasting the press for reporting fake news on a daily basis.