The deployment of U.S. military personnel to the southern border is an ineffective and costly use of resources that fails to address the root causes of migration and border security concerns. Rather than enhancing national security, this approach diverts critical military assets from their intended missions, strains defense budgets, and places service members in roles they are neither trained nor appropriately utilized. Furthermore, such deployments risk undermining constitutional protections, particularly the Fourth Amendment rights of immigrants and asylum seekers, which guard against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Military forces are not a sustainable solution for managing immigration policy or border enforcement. Civilian agencies such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are better equipped to handle these responsibilities through targeted personnel, technology, and infrastructure investments. The continued reliance on troop deployments reflects a short-term political strategy rather than a viable long-term solution. In addition, military involvement at the border raises significant legal and ethical concerns, including the potential for violations of due process and protections against warrantless searches under the Fourth Amendment.

Additionally, such deployments impose unnecessary burdens on military personnel, disrupting training schedules and readiness while offering little strategic value. Instead of misallocating defense resources, policymakers should prioritize comprehensive immigration reform, diplomatic engagement with neighboring countries, and enhanced border management strategies that align with humanitarian and security needs while upholding constitutional rights. We strongly oppose the unnecessary deployment of troops to the border and management strategies that don’t align with humanitarian and security needs or uphold constitutional rights. 

We strongly oppose the unnecessary deployment of troops to the border and advocate for effective, sustainable, and fiscally responsible solutions that respect civil liberties and address border security and immigration challenges.

When Jeff and I first heard the news that we were given a date certain for all US troops to leave Afghanistan, we were taken aback.  After 20 long years of MFSO families working so hard to make this happen and always watchful of approaching deadlines and promises, it’s seems odd to be startled at the news? Even after hearing it officially from President Biden’s own lips, we are still in disbelief. Since that day the MFSO office has been receiving emails from members who have been part of the struggle over the years and who wanted to share their feelings and concerns about what it all means to us as military families. Below are some of the statements we were allowed to share with you. We hope you will send your thoughts too so we can share them.

“It is long past time for the U.S. military role in Afghanistan to end. Military families who have been speaking out for many years to bring our troops home know that this move honors our troops – including those who died as a result of this ‘forever’ war – because continued death, including the deaths of increasing numbers of Afghan civilians, honors no one, and solves no problems. There is much that must happen now, including taking care of our troops coming home with visible and hidden injuries of war, and bringing about a new foreign policy that opposes these occupations and will not hinder the emergence of civilian voices, leaders and the forces who will ultimately bring justice and peace to their own country.”
Nancy Lessin, Co-founder, Military Families Speak Out

I am delighted to hear the news that we will bring home all troops from Afghanistan by Sept 11, 2021.  Our cries have been heard!  I hope that this will be the first of our troops matching home from all countries we have no business being in! I am cautiously optimistic that this will come to pass but I know the MIC is not happy about it. What shall be, shall be.
Diane Bremer
Mom of active duty son, Army
Red Wing, Minnesota

I feel tremendous relief that the troops are coming home from Afghanistan.  I also feel an overwhelming sadness for the men and women who served in Afghanistan; for those who did not come home, were injured (physically or mentally) or committed suicide.  I also feel great sadness for the huge losses and suffering the Afghan people endured and will continue to endure in their homeland destroyed by 20 years of war.

As the Afghanistan Papers confirmed, the military and the U.S. government knew early on that the Afghanistan War was a debacle and could not be won.  It didn’t understand Afghanistan nor did it have a strategy.  Yet, our government and military were unwilling to admit the Afghanistan war could not be won, damn the consequences.

These tragic decisions have destroyed people on all sides, for absolutely no gain.  This is shameful.  When will we learn that war and violence are not the path to a better world?
Mary Hladky, Mother of Army Infantry Officer who served 13 months, during Obama’s Surge, Zhari District, Kandahar Province

What a terrible and shameful tragedy – the war against Afghanistan. More than 2400 American troops and more than 38,000 Afghan civilians were killed. (NYTimes, 2019) There were many millions of war refugees. There were countless people injured. Moral injury, PTSD and other devastating impacts of war will persist. The poisoning of civilians and military from burn pits, the damage to the environment and people’s health has been horrendous. My heart goes out to other military families and Afghan families whose loved ones were killed or injured.  The costs were over $1.5 trillion dollars, not including money spent on medical and disability costs for veterans, all money that should have been spent instead in our communities for education, housing, health care, social services and other human needs. Shame on the elected officials who voted for this war and those who voted to continue funding the war. A salute to the millions of people who marched and demonstrated, lobbied and petitioned both to prevent the war in Afghanistan and to demand an end to the war. We will remain vigilant to make sure that not only the troops come home, but the contractors, the CIA, the Special Forces, must come home, too. We must make sure that absolutely no U.S. drones or other weapons of war will be used in Afghanistan.
Paula Rogovin, mother of an Iraq war veteran

It’s been 20 years now and it’s past time for our troops to come home. I have more faith in President Biden bringing the troops home than I did in the former president.  I believe President Biden will make a smooth transition and not make more problems for us. This is a start, but we need all the troops out of the Middle East.
Ed Garza, Former board member
Santa Ana CA

I am relieved that our troops are finally leaving Afghanistan after 20 years, but I’m concerned that we have not learned our lesson about the costs of starting and continuing wars of choice. We should have been out of Afghanistan shortly after we went in.  Delta Force spotted Osama Bin Laden leaving the mountain caves for Pakistan after the Battle of Tora Bora but was denied permission to take him out. That would have ended our involvement.

I am now concerned about the future of the Afghanis who helped US forces as translators, etc., and those who tried to bring democracy to Afghanistan.  I hope that President Biden will welcome them into the US as refugees as they will be in danger when the Taliban returns to power.

Our wars of choice have destroyed nations (Vietnam and Iraq) while bringing riches to the corporations that supply war. Tens of thousands of our troops have died or are injured from wounds seen or unseen, families have been destroyed. I hope we will not repeat these mistakes.
Anna Berlinrut, Mom of Marine deployed 8 times in harm’s way
Connecticut

I’m heartened by President Biden’s resolve to end the war in Afghanistan.  However,  I’ll believe it when I see it because other presidents like Bush, (“Mission Accomplished”), Obama and Trump,  promised before, but no one has brought them all home yet. But I’m hopeful he will follow through this time. As a military family member himself, I believe Biden really understands the toll war takes on our families more than the other presidents did . He knows what it’s like to wait and wonder. My daughter was injured when she was deployed and we had to wait so long to find out how she was. If you’ve been a military family member long enough you will do whatever it takes to find out how your loved one is.
Lorna Farnum
Daughter deployed to Kosovo
Hawaii

I have cautious optimism regarding brining our troops home.  It is past time, that is a worldwide truth.  I am holding my breath for every family and friend of a deployed troop.  The joy of thinking they will be home soon; is balance with the possibility of retaliation.  That is hell.  I grieve, I rejoice.
Corla Coles,
Mother in law of Active Duty Army Reserve
Redlands, CA

Oh God. I think it’s a good move and that it’s inevitable. I wonder, are we really getting out? It’s a win for the US, but a tragedy for the Afghani people. As inevitable as this is, it’s unavoidable.  Who would have thought that 9/11 would be the beginning of a 20 year war- America’s longest war that would cost $2 trillion, the lives of tens of thousands Afghans -3,502 NATO casualties  and over 2, 312 of our US troops. I remember when Bin Laden died, I was in NYC and people we jubilant. I was with them, and then I thought later that I never celebrated someone dying before.

Afghanistan has a corrupt government, there’s no real industry except opium. 70% of Afghans live on a dollar a day, there are few schools, their infrastructure is weak, electricity and water are erratic in the nation’s capital, and I fear women and girls are going to be the ones who will suffer the most. Where does the Taliban get their money? Why aren’t we talking about that? The pain is going to come, but what can you say? You can’t police the whole world, but if we haven’t fixed this in 20 years, we never are going to fix it.  After 20 years of presidents saying we’re getting out, the US has no credibility. I’ll believe it when I see it. This announcement is dredging up a lot of emotions right now for veterans and military families.
Don Kimball,
Uncle to Active Duty Marine and veteran
South Portland, ME

As military families whose loved ones/children have been in Afghanistan, we welcome the news that our troops are coming home. We hope that this is just the beginning of troop withdrawals from the Middle East and other countries where we have participated in unjust wars. These wars have endangered the lives of our children and haven’t done anything to protect us.
Rossana Cambron
Mother of action duty Army
Los Angeles, CA

LA Times Letters to the Editor – April 1, 2021

“To the editor: How were we able to sustain 20 years of war? Multiple troop deployments and a spineless Congress that hid behind the AUMF. Throughout three presidential administrations, Congress has failed in one of its most sacred duties — to protect this country and the lives of our troops.

After I once complained about my son’s sixth deployment, someone thoughtlessly responded: “Well, he wanted to go, didn’t he?” Yes, and the truth is that he and most of his other buddies would agree to redeploy as often as they were asked to, regardless of their physical and mental state. That is what they were trained to do. But the founders never meant for one man, the president, to have complete authority to send these troops to war. They wisely gave Congress the power to authorize and fund war to limit the president’s power.

We don’t need the AUMF to protect us. Just get rid of it.

Pat Alviso, Long Beach

Military Families Speak Out are deeply appalled by President Trump’s recent remarks regarding the severe injuries suffered by US Service members as a result of Iran’s retaliatory strike that took place on January 8, 2020 at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. During a press conference, President Trump downplayed the seriousness of the over 109 diagnosed cases of traumatic brain injuries suffered by our troops. Below is a letter from members of Military Families Speak Out demanding an apology from President Trump and Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo for their callous and offensive remarks: 

Open Letter to President Trump,  

Initially, you and the Pentagon reported that no US service members were injured or killed in the January 8th Iranian missile attack, which was in retaliation for the Jan 2 US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general. At an address after the attack you said: 

“No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases”. Later during the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, after the public learned that US service members had been diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injuries, you were asked, “So you don’t consider potential traumatic brain injury serious?. You replied,” No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no” and referred to such injuries as “headaches”. 

Such callous remarks are deeply offensive and are evidence of your serious lack of education on this matter. As of today, we have not heard any admission from you, the Pentagon or Secretary of Defense, Mike Pompeo, that traumatic brain injuries are one of the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and often considered by medical professionals as a grave injury. As Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces your statements have left our troops, their families and loved ones feeling deeply hurt and betrayed. Our loved ones have been the victims of these unjust wars for almost 20 years. It also dealt a major setback to much of the efforts that many of us, including the VA Administration, have spent educating the public about the seriousness of Traumatic Brain Injury and other invisible wounds of war, such as PTSD, moral injury, death by suicide and military sexual trauma. 

As many military families know firsthand, Traumatic Brain Injury is serious and often causes permanent neurological damage. The effects of TBI on our returning troops may not be obvious to many, but we know how debilitating this injury can be and that it has destroyed many US Service member’s health to the degree that it has caused many of them to be unable to lead physically and emotionally functional lives. Military Families Speak Out and our troops expect better of you and the Department of Defense and want and deserve an apology. Such recognition of the injuries caused by these unjust wars will go a long way in helping our loved ones begin to heal from lifelong injuries sustained by our current wars of aggression and remind the public that it is long past the time for us to end these wars and bring all of our troops home. 

Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 9, 2019 on Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. Photo by Geronimo Quitoriano

Join Veterans For Peace and Military Families Speak Out for Armistice Day on The Mall in Washington DC on 11/11/2018. 

Visit www.NoTrumpMilitaryParade.us for a full list of the weekend events.

This includes a concert on McPherson Square Saturday night, an interfaith service Sunday morning, a solemn veteran and military family-led march on Sunday at 9:00 am and more events at McPherson Square Sunday afternoon, including a BBQ for homeless vets.

October 7th is a grim reminder of 17 years of war in Afghanistan – a war that has brought death, destruction and grievous injury to so many, with little, if any, success and no conclusion.

Most Americans cannot explain why we are currently at war in seven countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Niger.People don’t know and are shocked to learn that U.S. Special Forces were in 149 countries last year. There are 193 countries in the world. That’s a military presence in 77% of the world’s countries.

Perpetual War has become the new “normal” and the American people barely bat an eye.

Unfortunately, the American public is totally disengaged from the country’s wars and its military interventions. Less than 1% of Americans serve in the military. The rest of Americans have been asked to sacrifice nothing. There is no draft and since 9/11 no increased taxes to pay for these wars. With no “skin in the game”, and the wars rarely covered in the media, it is easier for people, with very busy lives, to just accept that the government is keeping them safe, no need to question.

Since 9/11 U.S. wars have not achieved their military objectives; they do not bring peace, democracy or freedom. They do not make the lives of the people in these countries better. The American people are told that the U.S. military is a force for good, but in reality, it has brought chaos and increasing terrorism to the Middle East and the region.

Since 9/11 the U.S. has created a vast national-security state surveilling Americans.

Militarism abroad has gone hand in hand with the militarization of U.S. borders and of poor communities across the country.
Military weapons from our wars are returning home to local police departments to be used against brown and black communities. The weapons used on the streets of Baghdad are literally the same weapons used on the streets of Ferguson. Young black males are 9x more likely to be killed by police officers than other Americans. This is the same racism that goes together with the war against immigrants and refugees.

War creates millions of refugees. The UN reports that approximately half of the world’s refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. All places the U.S. military has intervened.

And the most dangerous blowback, for every living thing on the planet, is the increased production of nuclear weapons and the devastating effects war has on climate change.

Wars since 9/11 have little to do with protecting Americans but are all about the immensely profitable business of war. We are told that our massive war spending is necessary to support the troops. But, in fact, it supports defense contractors making record profits.

How are we supporting the troops when there is a move to privatize the VA, so corporations can pillage the system for profit, instead of appropriately funding VA services to handle the ever-increasing number of veterans who need care?

How are we supporting the troops when the military knowingly exposed untold numbers of service men and women in Iraq & Afghanistan to deadly toxins through the extensive use of open-air burn pits instead of ensuring waste was properly handled?

Supporting our troops means bringing them home now and taking care of them when they return.

Instead of instigating wars of choice, America should have been focusing on poverty in America, maintaining our infrastructure, climate change, and understanding cyber-threats (like shutting down the electrical grid).

After 17 years of unwinnable wars, our only accomplishments are more terrorist cells and more hatred of America. These are the choices our country has made and they basically come down to hurting people – here at home and abroad.

We need to ask ourselves: Who Are We as a Nation?

And When Will We Stand Up to Change the Direction of our Country?

Mary Hladky
Military Families Speak Out

Many of us in MFSO were very heartened and encouraged to see how MFSO, Veterans for Peace, and About Face ( IVAW), collaborated to support the Poor People’s Campaign, Phase 1, last May and June. The National Poor People’s Campaign is a call for moral revival that supports Dr. King’s vision to oppose the 4 pillars he identified that uphold the ills of society: Poverty, Racism, the Environment and the War Economy. Dr. Barber, the national organizer of the PPC today, laid out a plan that for 40 days we would confront each pillar by organizing direct actions at each state capitol, as was successfully practiced in South Carolina with Moral Mondays. An essential part of the campaign included a call for people to risk arrest. Over 35 states had actions that resulted in what has been recognized as the largest mass demonstration across the US with over 2,000 people being arrested across the country.

MFSO, VFP and AF focused on week 3-the week on militarism and the war. In California, 20 MFSO, VFP members and supporters were arrested in Sacramento for disruptions that resulted in the halting of the State Assembly while in session. To do this, it required weeks of coordinating at many different levels. Three vans of participants drove up from S. CA, while others drove many miles across the state to participate. With the help of Veterans for Peace LA and Orange County, we set up an exhibit of crosses representing our troops who have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to represent the countless innocent civilians who also died, the PPC Arts committee helped us build a clothesline of torn garments and a display of empty shoes. Many of our members held up posters of of loved ones and set up informational booths-all on the capitol lawn! A speak out was held on the steps with MFSO members Tim Kahlor and Laurie Loving and VFP member Anthony Palacios among the speakers.

The goal of the direct action in Sacramento was to get our message heard and stop business as usual at the state capitol. MFSO members Tim, Laurie, Pat, Rossana and Arturo Cambron, Jeff Merrick, Kathleen Hernandez VFP Associate member and other VFP members and dozens of supporters boldly took up a whole section in the State Assembly. We held up posters of our loved ones who died due to war, suicide, substance abuse and deportation and interrupted the session by shouting the names of these victims of war and demanding the end of state tax breaks to those who support war, that we bring the National Guard home from the border, stop the privatization of the VA and provide housing and support for veterans. Some State Assembly members stood up and applauded . We shut down the State Assembly but 21 people were arrested that day including MFSO members Laurie Loving and Pat Alviso, and Kathleen Hernandez.. They were kept overnight in the Sacramento jail, but all charge were eventually dropped.

All of this was made possible due to the generosity, hard work and masterful organizational skills of MFSO members Laurie and Russell Loving, who provided housing and meals, media outreach and leadership for two of the six weeks. What was accomplished is immeasurable – groups that had never worked together before organized an unforgettable message with a collaboration that all wish to continue implementing for Phase 2 of the Poor People’s Campaign.

By Pat Alviso, MFSO CA, MFSO National Coordinator and Mary Hladky MFSO MO and MFSO Steering Committee