US military won’t shoot rock-throwing migrants, says Trump

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said that soldiers sent to fortify the US border with Mexico won’t shoot migrants if they throw rocks at Americans, a reversal from remarks he made a day earlier.
Migrants trying to enter the US will instead be quickly arrested if they’re violent, he said as he departed the White House for a campaign rally in West Virginia.
“No, they won’t have to fire,” he said.
“What they did to the Mexican military is a disgrace. They hit them with rocks, some were very seriously injured and they are throwing rocks in their face.
They do that with us, they’re going to be arrested, there’s going to be problems.
“I didn’t say shoot. I didn’t say shoot. But they do that with us, they’re going to be arrested for a long time.”
Trump indicated that he had authorised the military to shoot migrants who throw rocks at US officials.
“They want to throw rocks are our military? Our military fights back. I told them, ‘consider it a rifle,”’ Trump said after remarks on immigration at the White House.
Retired military leaders criticised the president, saying the directive would amount to an unlawful order and that soldiers shouldn’t obey it.
A wasteful deployment of over-stretched Soldiers and Marines would be made much worse if they use force disproportional to the threat they face. They won’t.
Donald Trump has ordered thousands of soldiers to the border with Mexico to protect against what he’s called “caravans” of migrants making their way north from Central America.