President Donald Trump is using our armed forces like G.I. Joe action figures to push his anti-immigration agenda.

Staging a “hurry up and wait” scenario for the military, President Trump is putting his own political gain before troops and their families. The sacrifices of these troops—a service which Trump avoided with numerous draft deferments during the Vietnam War—are being dismissed on a whim.

Military families who have waited months, sometimes years, to see their loved ones are pushed aside for the “bigger issue” at hand: the caravan. An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 Central American migrants are making their way toward the Southern U.S. border, through storms and heat, with small children and few possessions, according to The New York Post.

President Trump may have authority to block the migrants from entering our country with federal law and the Constitution behind him, but there is no need for military presence at the border.

The border is protected by Border Patrol whose job is to deal with these situations; this is not a job for soldiers.

The 900 soldiers currently at the border are there only to give extra support. This means highly trained personnel lay barbed wire and wait around for those who dare to cross. If deployment increases to the speculated 15,000, the cost could be up to $110 million, according to a Nov. 3 Washington Post article.

But this isn’t the troops’ faults. Many in uniform may not even agree with President Trump’s demands, especially if this unneeded deployment interferes with Thanksgiving and other holiday plans. And not just Thanksgiving, but their time. 

Being a soldier, and thus carrying out President Trump’s orders, comes before their rights as individuals. Before their own thoughts and beliefs, they must serve and protect the interests of their country. This is what makes our service members heroic and worthy of our respect.

We can support the troops. We can appreciate their sacrifices and respect the families without supporting war, presidential action or cause. We can only hope to find the integrity of our country boomeranging back from its long hiatus by giving those their due respect and by taking pride in what makes us American.

What strips troops of choice is what makes them human, too. They are not action figures in a game of political strife. Our soldiers are following orders, and in doing so, serving our country.

For President Trump to send our troops to hurry up and wait mere weeks before Thanksgiving is cruel to the troops and their families. They were called to action without a second thought of the consequences.

Our troops and their families sacrifice so much already, and now their Thanksgiving, too, must be sacrificed in the name of political prerogatives.