The banning of immigrants from Muslim countries in the Middle East and impending mass deportation of undocumented immigrants now in the U.S. are threatening the country’s security. And this is foreseen to affect global security as concerns on possible terrorism attacks from Muslim extremists in the future grow.
Law and Order in the U.S.
Trump has been aggressive in implementing his executive orders (EO) including those on homeland security. One of his pledges is to restore law and order in the U.S. and to achieve this, he recently signed an EO to find solutions to the problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime. The EO will also organize a task force to look into how crime information is gathered and come up with strategies as well as laws to fight and reduce crime.
Another EO was signed in February with a goal of creating new laws to protect law enforcers and implement higher penalties for crimes committed against them. The order also tasks the director general to look into the present federal grant funding programs to law enforcement agencies and recommend some modifications if necessary.
Bigger Budget for the U.S. Military
The latest move made by the Trump administration in relation to security is to propose an increase in the U.S. defense budget. Trump mentioned about this plan earlier while still in the campaign trail in an effort to rebuild the depleted U.S. military. “We must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war and when called upon to fight in our name, only do one thing: Win,” he was quoted as saying.
His goal now is to seek a $54 billion budget from the U.S. for the military spending in the next fiscal year. If approved, the nine percent increase would be a historic move. The amount would also be greater than the total projected Russian military budget in 2018. Right now, the U.S. is spending $584 billion on defense making it the world’s largest spender after China.
Trump has been critical of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the Obama administration’s performance in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is also seeking to expand its Navy ships particularly in the Asia-Pacific. From the current 272 ships, the goal is to expand it to 350. It is expected that this proposal would help improve security in the region.
Certain sectors, for their part, want Trump to prioritize the military’s reorganization in order to meet and fight the threats presented by the modern world. According to Veronique de Rugy, a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center which is affiliated with George Mason University in Virginia, politics will again be involved in this proposal to increase the defense budget and the priorities do not even concern national security.
This military expansion is foreseen to spill over to the U.S. nuclear modernization as well. Trump earlier said he wants the nuclear arsenal to be strengthened and expanded and criticized America for lagging behind in terms of nuclear weapons. This move is expected to increase the competition in nuclear arms particularly among the U.S., Russia and China.
As the new U.S. President pursues his mission to fight the Islamic State and jihadists and eliminate ISIS, defense experts and other political analysts fear for a possible instability in global security and proliferation of weapons around the world. Challenges worldwide are already growing and international order is also being threatened due to this current moves of the Trump administration.
