President Donald Trump is following through with his plan to better secure the nation’s southern border. On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson announced that Trump is deploying the National Guard to the border to assist the Border Patrol. Neilson stated, “It’s time to act,” adding that the federal government has begun the process of working with state governors with the “hope that the deployment begins immediately.” Nielson continued, “I don’t want to get ahead of the governors. This is a partnership with them. We are giving them the opportunity to review our suggestions of how the National Guard can support the Border Patrol.”

Along with this news is a report that the apprehension rate of illegals at the border has increased by 203% since last March. Trump, who campaigned heavily on stemming the problem of illegal immigration via building up stronger border security and a wall, pointedly blamed Democrats for the lax laws, while emphasizing that he will act. Trump stated, “We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things. … Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military.” Trump added, “We can’t do anything about it because the laws that were created by Democrats are so pathetic and so weak.”

Trump is doubling down on arguably the number one issue that won him the presidency, and he’s using it to create a clear political dividing line between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats have proven themselves the party of the radical Left by their siding with noncitizen illegal aliens over and against the interests of Americans. Thus Trump’s tweet on Monday: “Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People. Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!”

Predictably, the Leftmedia has been making hay over Trump’s call for sending the military to the border, as if it was unprecedented. Oregon Democrat Gov. Kate Brown pledged to defy Trump if he requests National Guard troops, tweeting, “If [Trump] asks me to deploy Oregon troops to the Mexico border, I’ll say no. As Commander of Oregon’s Guard, I’m deeply troubled by Trump’s plan to militarize our border.” The truth is the past five U.S. presidents have sent troops to the border to aid the Border Patrol.

Meanwhile, that caravan of 1,000 illegal aliens crossing Mexico with the intent of illegally crossing into the U.S. appears to have had a change of plans. One of the caravan’s de facto leaders, Irineo Mujica, head of migrant advocacy group Pueblo sin Fronteras, stated, “We will wrap up our work in Mexico City. We have support teams at the border if there are people who need assistance there, but they would have to travel on their own.” Mujica added, “There are too many children — 450 in all. There are lots of babies. Hopping the train, as we did in the past, would have been crazy.” Was that really the reason, or did it have more to do with the fact that Trump is sending in the troops?