Two US soldiers, patrolling the border with Mexico, were stopped by five or six Mexican military personnel on 13 April 2019, who believed they had ventured into Mexico's territory, while in fact the troop were still on American soil, US Northern Command stated. Later reports said that Mexican troops had disarmed and questioned their US colleagues in the course of the incident.
READ MORE: FBI Arrests Member of Armed Group Detaining Migrants at Southern Border
Despite US Northern Command's explanations that American soldiers had tried to "de-escalate a potential volatile situation", many Twitterians remained unconvinced, stating that such handling of US troops was totally inappropriate.
That should never happen.
— Richard Hill (@phskypilot) April 20, 2019
Unacceptable.
— T-K (@lycourgos488) April 21, 2019
Many of them slammed the actions of the Mexican military, suggesting that they could be seen as "act of war".
Act of WAR…???
— fudanshi (@fudanshi15) April 20, 2019
How can we expect Mexico to enforce their own immigration laws when they don't know where the border is?
— Will Rodgers (@WillRod555222) April 20, 2019
What the hey!!! War can start this way and Mexico will lose badly!!!
— Dean Miller (@fmiller26) April 20, 2019
Several netizens called on US President Trump to react to the incident.
Can't believe Trump hasn't or won't come before the American people and lay out the crisis at our border, what needs to be done and how serious it has become. Shocking and very disappointing he seems not to care. He won't win in 2020 if he doesn't get focused on the real prize.
— Dannak (@kornegay_danna) April 21, 2019
And where is Trump's outrage at our troops being disarmed by a FOREIGN GOV?!! On US soil?! Where's his tweets? Where's the WAR on MEXICO? Trump wants war in Venezuela, Yemen, Syria, but he turns a blind eye to the border.
— AsLan's Girl (@Aslans_Girl) April 21, 2019
Obama may as well still be potus for how flaccid Trump is.
Others suggested that he should instead focus all his efforts on finishing his border wall with Mexico to prevent similar mishaps in the future.
If there was a wall in place, the border would have been well defined and this situation would not have occurred.
— M.P.Carroll (@GrandpaInTucson) April 20, 2019
And that ladies and gentlemen is how ambiguous our southern border is for hundreds and hundreds of miles.
— Arthur J Fischman (@fischman_j) April 21, 2019
Some Twitterians went as far as to suggest that the US soldiers should have opened fire despite being disadvantaged in terms of numbers…
It's time our military opens fire and protects our borders and our citizens.
— Mike Cram (@MPCram1) April 21, 2019
or that Washington should have organised a minefield on its border's perimeter.
Yes. And again I introduced the subject of land mines. A wonderful deterrent. This is a serious problem. It deserves a serious solution. And a wall seems to be a problem.
— Marsha (@Marsha59674222) April 21, 2019
However, several Twitter users saw the incident from a different angle, claiming it was Trump who should be blamed for this situation.
What a bunch of brain dead comments. DID ANY OF YOU READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE?
— Beatrix Hephalmeyer (@WTFareyouhere) April 21, 2019
This crisis is entirely trump made. He wants this to stir you #MAGAts up and keep you scared. Fucking sheep.
US President Donald Trump has been trying for over half a year to secure funding for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico — a mega project he first announced during his election campaign. Trump argues the wall will stop flows of illegal immigrants, drugs and crime into the US from its southern neighbour, but he was vehemently opposed by Democrats.
READ MORE: Trump Says He Will Deploy More Troops to Southern US Border
The stand-off between the Democrats on the one side and Trump with Republicans on the other led to the longest government shutdown in the US history in January 2019, which was ended in February, although the sides failed to agree on border wall funding. Trump has since then initiated a state of emergency on the country's south to allocate the necessary funds without congressional consent.
