Meritian Border Crisis
| Meritian Border Crisis | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Supported by | Illegal Foreigners | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Joseph I of Meritia | No Defined Leader | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6 | Unknown | ||||||
The Meritian Border Crisis of 2022 and 2023, more commonly known as simply the Meritian Border Crisis, is an ongoing crisis between the Empire of Meritia and foreigners belonging to the United States. This conflict has resulted in numerous breeches into legal Meritian territory by individuals not registered as citizens within the country, leading to the eventual creation of the Border Security Agency of Meritia to combat this issue. Since spring of 2022, the conflict has never reached a clear end, as numerous instances of illegal entry into Meritia have continued to occur, now prevented through authorization of lethal force issued by the government, as an action to discourage unauthorized entry into the country.
History
On 6 March 2022 during the afternoon, Emperor Joseph I was alerted to find a major increase in activity in the areas surrounding Meritia, which prompted further investigation into the situation. Upon this, Joseph I concluded that 2-3 foreigners of the US may have illegally entered areas of the Territory of Sinumia, and had come alarmingly close to the southern border of Province District 01. As a result, the Emperor declared immediate emergency action to be taken to ensure the protection of Meritian territorial integrity. This led to the Meritian Armed Forces being immediatly mobilized and preparing for possible clashes with the Americans attempting to enter Meritia through training exercises. In the end, the government ended up declaring the start of a border crisis and formed a special administrative zone around vulnerable areas to ensure their priority in protection from foreigners. Following this instance, the government of Olov, a nation not well known at the time by Meritia, declared full support for the Empire against this threat.
After a decent period of stagnation in border breeches, the special zone for Province 01 and Sinumia was dropped, and the state resumed regular activity for the time being. This all lasted until July of 2022, when Joseph I was notified of possible plans by individuals to illegally enter Meritia while he was away on leave, making the entire country vulnerable to this threat. Resulting from this, Joseph I promised the immediate organization of a "border security force", which would replace the Army as the primary peacekeepers of territorial integrity. The initial attack, happened in the middle of July, when Joseph I was indeed on vacation, allowing the foreigners to enter unopposed. This led to the finalization of the proclaimed border security force, which was officially named as the Border Security Agency of Meritia. A second attack by the same group would later happen on 26 July, which resulted in the immediate creation of the new proclaimed BSAM into law through the Border Protection Act on the same day. Following this, the group was determined a "threat to Meritian society" by Joseph I, and an Emergency Zone Administration was established in the area of the breech. After this, the new BSAM took a pledge to never let an event of this degree happen in the nation while the emperor is away ever again, and since this there have been no major breeches in the mainland area.
Additional incidents can be blamed on the protectors of distant territories of Meritia, particularly that of Conor Newman in Meritian Dilu, which suffered multiple illegal breeches following its organization. The first of these happened on May of 2022, when the remnants of a temporary camp were discovered by Conor during a visit to the area. While surely an embarrassing blow for Meritia, it was understandable compared to the incidents which succeeded it, as the illegal aliens were long gone by then. After this, Conor was appointed an Honorary Officer of the National Police Department after his complaints that he had "no authority to enforce Meritian Law as a civilian". The second major incident was far more preventable yet ended on even worse terms. In the late summer of the same year, it had been seen by Conor that multiple young individuals had possibly smuggled recreational drugs into Meritian Dilu, and were still in the area at the time of the visit. Joseph I ordered their immediate arrest while still possible, as Conor was now an employee of the NPD by law. However, this demand was met with a refusal to cooperate by Conor, who for reasons regarding a "lack of equipment", never arrested the lawbreakers, stating that he had "no proper gear to make the arrest", which was denounced as a meager excuse by the emperor, who claimed he instead was simply too scared to make the arrest. Following this atrocious situation, rather than agreeing to do his duties, Conor instead proposed a mandate that would hand the territory over to Fontasia during high activity periods, which Joseph I in the end conceded to, no longer wishing to deal with Conor's negligence of his honorary position. After this, no further major incidents regarding the borders occurred for months on end, until that of the later Attack of Gloomy Wednesday, which sparked the border crisis back into full swing.
The attack occurred on 22 February 2023 following an initial decrease in tensions between Meritia and the US, after the conclusion of the Merito-American War prior on 25 December 2022. With this, the MMF declared the full demobilization of troops, as their immediate readiness was determined to be no longer necessary. The Meritian Border Security Agency, however, remained at full readiness, as their conflict with the foreigners had not yet come to any decisive conclusion. At 12:50 PM MGT (EST), the southern corner of Province District 01 was breeched presumedly by 2 individuals, likely associated with the local government, who proceeded to tear apart the surrounding trees in DNR-protected nature. The discovery of this by Emperor Joseph I prompted immediate response by the unprepared MMF, who was mobilized through a Declaration of State Emergency at 12:55 PM MGT (EST). The MMF had no access to firearms in the short conflict, as they had been disarmed for the time being, and resultantly resorted to melee-grade gear. The assailants had left the area before the MMF could fully mobilize, and the Capitol was secured at 1:15 PM MGT (EST). After the situation was deemed safe, military action was called off by 1:30 PM MGT (EST), and the DNR was issued an order to inspect the damage of the area. The attack sparked both Merito-American aggressions and the Meritian Border Crisis back into full swing, and large portions of land were annexed by Meritia in retaliation through the later Retaliation Act.
Reactions
Olovian Govt
- "The Olovian goverment claimed to support Meritia against the rebels."