Just over two weeks prior to the November 2018 midterm elections, President Donald Trump called White House staff and the Secretary of Homeland Security to the Oval Office to urge “extreme action” against caravans of migrants approaching the U.S.-Mexico border, The New York Times reports. Later that same day, October 22, then Homeland Security head Kirstjen Nielsen, staff from her department, and officials from Customs and Border Protection discussed deploying against would-be immigrants a crowd dispersal weapon shelved two decades ago due to questions about its morality and its effectiveness: a “heat ray” designed to induce the feeling of burning on the skin using microwaves. It is unclear if Trump knew of the discussion and wanted the weapon put to use, but Nielsen reportedly refused to authorize it and demanded the topic never be considered in her presence again, according to the Times.