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Donald Trump’s National Guard stunt will end up costing $182 million through the end of the fiscal year, according to the Pentagon. That’s quite a lot of taxpayer dough to spend on a small group of Central American asylum-seekers like Gabriela and her young children, and quite a lot of taxpayer dough to spend on troops that aren’t actually allowed to have contact with those families in the first place:
The money would come from the Guard’s operation and maintenance and military personnel accounts, spokeswoman Dana White said.
“These are funds that are for training and so we’ll use them, but at this time there are no concerns,” she said.
Asked whether there were concerns that dipping into such accounts would affect force readiness, she replied that there were no issues “right now.”
Meanwhile, Trump is tweeting that the border “is under siege,” and that “Congress must act now to change our weak and ineffective immigration laws.” If we got a dollar for every time we heard that, we could pay for the National Guard. The fact is that these asylum-seekers are going to face a complex system that doesn’t guarantee them anything, just the chance to apply. Maybe you’re uninformed, Donald. Maybe you’re racist. Maybe you’re both.