The Associated Press had screaming breaking news this morning.

According to the headline “Trump weighs mobilizing Nat Guard for immigration roundups.”

It set the internet on fire. Even though water quickly was thrown on the fire, the meme now is developed.

Within the body of the article is presented the consideration as being serious and as being at high levels:

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press…. While National Guard personnel have been used to assist with immigration related missions on the U.S.Mexico border before, they have never been used as broadly or as far north. The memo is addressed to the then acting heads of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It would serve as guidance to implement the wide ranging executive order on immigration and border security that President Donald Trump signed Jan. 25. Such memos are routinely issued to supplement executive orders.

The story was published before obtaining White House or DHS comment:

Requests to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment and a status report on the proposal were not answered.

The story went wild on social media.

It was picked up and republished at numerous newspapers, which often just run AP stories verbatim:

The White House and other government officials pushed back in unusually quick fashion.

Homeland Security spokeswoman tells NBC News: "That AP story about the National Guard is incorrect. It's not true." — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 17, 2017

DHS also denies report. "It’s incorrect. The department is not considering mobilizing the National Guard for immigration enforcement." — Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas) February 17, 2017

What appears to have happened is that there was a very early draft of a proposal that never made it to consideration at senior levels of the bureaucracy, the DHS head, or the Trump White House.

A DHS official says memo was "a very early, pre decisional draft… and was never seriously considered by the Department" — Dorey Scheimer (@DoreyScheimer) February 17, 2017

DHS official tells me the11-page memo was "an early draft, internal document that didn’t make it to the Secretary for consideration." — Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) February 17, 2017

To run a headline that Trump was considering the proposal, or even that the proposal was under consideration by the Trump administration, at best was misleading.

I have not yet seen an AP response to the denials.

But there’s a new strain emerging: This was all as set up, a way for Trump to precondition the population to such an event.

That National Guard story feels like a pure intimidation move. Whether or not it’s true doesn’t matter. Word is out. Mission accomplished. — Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) February 17, 2017

With the added benefit of hindsight, Trump’s news conference attacks on the media yesterday were prescient.

UPDATE: AP now has released the draft memo, and it’s clear that the AP story was hyperbole at best. It appears to be nothing more than authorization to entering into cooperation agreements.

The actual language of the DHS draft memo specifically narrows the National Guard scope to identification/deportation of "criminal aliens." pic.twitter.com/UlD5rbYfHh — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 17, 2017

Alright, looking at a copy of the draft memo now. It never suggests nationalizing the Guard. It's an extension of 287(g). Here's it is: pic.twitter.com/Su8I8dQn6p — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) February 17, 2017

Also, the draft memo does not specify 100,000 NG would be mobilized. Nor that they would be "rounding up" aliens. — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) February 17, 2017

AP went from the pictured language to "Trump weighs mobilizing National Guard for immigration roundups" and you all fell for it. pic.twitter.com/BNl2fDBWeR — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) February 17, 2017

Draft Memo Associated Press Trump National Guard Immigration Round Up by Legal Insurrection on Scribd



