After learning of confrontation at TX border, Trump tweets ‘Sending armed soldiers to border’

President Donald Trump made a new threat Wednesday to send armed soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump tweeted that “Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border,” but he didn’t support the drug-smuggling claim.

U.S. Northern Command, which manages military support for Customs and Border Protection, said the Americans were in a CBP vehicle in a remote area in the vicinity of Clint, Texas.

The incident happened on April 13 and was first reported by Newsweek, which said one of the Mexican military members removed a service pistol from the hip of one of the Americans and threw it inside the U.S. government vehicle.

President Trump further tweeted: “Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!”

A Northern Command statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday said an inquiry by the Defense Department and CBP revealed that the Mexican military members believed they were on Mexican territory at the time they confronted the Americans. The incident happened on a slice of U.S. territory south of the border wall but north of the actual border.

U.S. troops are already at the border to help CBP reduce illegal crossings.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump “is just making clear, as he always has, that he has many different actions at his disposal” to try to stop what the administration calls a humanitarian crisis at the border.

Asked if Trump will, in fact, send additional troops to the border, Conway replied: “He may.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador promised at a Wednesday news conference to investigate the border incident.

“We are going to analyze this incident, we are going to take account of what he (Trump) is indicating and will act in conformity with the law, within the framework of our sovereignty,” Obrador said.

He added: “We are not going to fight with the government of the United States. The most important thing is that we want a relationship of mutual respect and cooperation for development.”

Trump recently backed off his threat to seal the entire border, citing Mexican cooperation.

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