Trump’s Defense Secretary Killed Plan to Send Half the Army to Mexican Border, Report Says

Former President Donald Trump’s defense secretary quashed a fledgling plan to send 250,000 Army troops to the U.S.-Mexico border last year, The New York Times reports. Mark Esper was reportedly infuriated at the idea. Such a massive force would have required half the U.S. Army. Stephen Miller, Trump’s hardline adviser on immigration, had pushed the Department of Homeland Security to craft a plan to cut border crossings to zero along the entire 2,000-mile boundary, and that agency then relayed the idea to the branch of the Defense Department responsible for North America, according to the Times. Esper reportedly spoke to Miller and cancelled the preparations before officials could present them to Trump himself. Around the same time, the Times reported, Trump talked to White House aides about sending troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels.