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President Donald Trump has commanded thousands of additional US troops on the southwestern border over the next two months, according to a document written last week by Defense Ministry officials and obtained by Newsweek.
Officials from the North American Army, the unit responsible for overseeing the border mission, drafted deployment orders in anticipation of a new Homeland Security request to assist US Customs and Border Protection within the framework of the joint border mission in progress.
The document also showed President Trump's growing urgency to face a crisis on the southern border, with orders being issued just days after the Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, resigned on April 7.
Four sources from the Ministry of Defense said Newsweek the document seems to show between 9,000 and 10,000 other US forces heading to the southwestern border in the coming months; However, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the document was misleading insofar as not all members of the service in a unit selected for deployment would go.
A Pentagon spokesman said Newsweek by telephone Tuesday morning, US military planners plan to send a "brigade less", about 3,000 additional people. US forces joined forces to join units that were already at the border, but they had not received a new request for assistance from Homeland Security to determine how many additional troops would be needed.
However, on Tuesday afternoon, the Pentagon sent an email to Newsweek reporter and says that the number is not 3,000, and the document Newsweek a provisional copy was obtained and if Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan approved any request for internal security, the number of additional soldiers would be between 300 and 500.
Three sources from the Ministry of Defense have stated Newsweek the document is not a rough draft and it was there, Rough draft would be displayed on the document near the classification marks.
At the bottom of the copy obtained by NewsweekLieutenant-General Jeffrey Buchanan, Commander-in-Chief of the North American Army, authenticated the document.
About 2,800 active duty forces currently support the border mission, told the US Army north Newsweek by e-mail Tuesday. Approximately 1,200 of these forces are participating in the mobile surveillance camera mission, with approximately 1,000 members of the services dedicated to the fortification of ports of entry in Texas and New Mexico. The remaining 200 staff members are part of a crisis response force, the remainder being assigned to the staff and logistic support. About 2 100 National Guards are also assigned to the Border Mission, according to the numbers assigned to ABC News.
State Secretary for Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters that the Pentagon had not received a formal request for assistance, but that it should not be surprised that we increased support at the border.
"Our support is very elastic and, given the deterioration at the border, you would expect us to get more support," Shanahan said.
Although they are not classified, these documents are not made public and are intended for the government because they serve to coordinate the movement of units and the tasks assigned to them. Deployment orders were sent to Newsweek by two independent American military sources and can be read at the bottom of this story. Before publication, Newsweek expurgated names of service members and numbered unit identification codes.
A US military source said it was unaware of a new request for assistance from DHS or US Customs Protection and Border Protection, but said the demand for more forces military originated from the White House.
Neither the White House nor the DHS responded to requests for Newsweek provide comments for this article.
The 25-page registration is called fragmentary order, or FRAGO for short. A FRAGO is a slice of an order of operations that US military planners use as add-ons to an existing mission or when there is a change from a previous fragmentary order or original order of operation issued to the units of the Department of Defense to perform a task.
Additional forces would be responsible for assisting the Department of Defense in its mission to assist US border patrol officials "in planning, intelligence analysis, detection, surveillance and other, to enhance security along the international border ", according to the deployment orders. .
Among the "other supports" are the "mobile surveillance camera operations" underway at the border, as well as his "communication mission," which have seen soldiers place concertina wires across the southern border since Trump was announced its intention to send more than 5,000 other soldiers on active duty by the end of October 2018.
The orders also claimed that the troops would "be expected to apply the appropriate response of law enforcement forces to secure the southwestern border" until the end of their deployment.
Last November, Newsweek first reported that President Trump had approved the use of law enforcement troops at the southwestern border without violating the Posse Comitatus Act, the federal law of 1878 limiting the government's ability to use the US military as a police force.
The president has expanded the authorities of the Department of Defense at the border, including allowing the use of lethal force, according to a memo from the White House obtained by Newsweek last year.
The memo allowed US service members to perform "military protection activities", allowing members of the services to use "demonstration or use of force (including lethal force, if applicable), crowds, temporary detention and superficial searches ". defense to protect customs officers and border protection.
While some units at the border will be replaced by military forces entering or returned to their home base, US military planners have also extended the deployment time of 19 different units, whose specialties range from military units. infantry and artillery to the squadrons of aviation and the military police. These troops should return to their home base on September 30, at the end of the current exercise for the Department of Defense, "or until it is no longer necessary."
Among the extended units until September are two naval infantry companies of the 2nd Battalion, the 4th Marine Regiment and the 1st Armored Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, both located at Camp Pendleton in California. Navy Captain Paul Gainey said Newsweek On Monday, 1st ARL did not deploy at the border with its light armored vehicles, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle equipped with a 25mm Bushmaster M242 chain gun and two 7.62 M240 machine guns. mm.
Last week, Navy Commander Robert Neller said the Marines deployed on the southwestern border had no negative impact on service readiness in their testimony before the Senate Armed Services Commission. at a hearing on next year's defense budget.
"So the Marines at the border, their readiness – I personally checked the readiness of each unit there and, with one exception, their actual readiness had no impact. Some units have improved their readiness, "Neller told the senators. "So, saying that going to the border degraded our readiness was not an accurate statement."
However, in letters written to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Navy Secretary General Richard Spencer in February and March this year, Mr. Neller stated that the budget items "unplanned / unbudgeted ", including the deployment of the southern border, constituted an" unacceptable risk to the Marine Corps preparation and solvency. " The Los Angeles Times first reported the letters.
Newsweek Later, senior Marine Corps officials voluntarily leaked internal notes to draw media attention to service families living in hurricane-ravaged military installations in North Carolina.
On Friday, Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren asked Neller if military training exercises had been canceled or if the units had missed the planned training due to budget problems. Neller said he was not aware of any canceled exercise.
The Navy commander said that fewer Marines had participated in an exercise and that a small number of them had been sent to the mission at the border instead of following a planned training.
However, Neller's memo dated March 18 indicated to the Marines that they were canceling at least three scheduled military exercises. Newsweek Navy headquarters sought clarification on Neller's comments to the Senate, but no comments were received.
The timing of the new deployment is in line with the Pentagon announcement in January to extend its border mission until the end of September, bringing the national deployment to almost a year.
The documents describe "US security" as "endangered by escalating illicit drugs, dangerous gang activity, and significant illegal immigration" at the US-Mexico border. "The situation at the border has reached the point of crisis" and "threat [the] the safety of citizens and violates the law, "indicate the orders.
Data published by the US Customs and Border Protection Agency, released last week, show that the highest apprehension rate recorded at the US-Mexico border since 2007 is 92,000. The agency noted however that much of the recent increase in the number of arrivals at the border was made up of families fleeing Central America.
At the same time, CBP data seemed to indicate that drug seizures recorded during the first five months of fiscal 2019 were about to occur in parallel or potentially beyond those documented in both years. previous years, while the law enforcement by patrol gangs 481 apprehensions during the first five months of fiscal 2019, compared with 808 total the previous year.
Yet, despite repeated warnings from the Trump government on a security crisis at the southern border, the US Northern Command's chief, US Air Force General Terrence O. Shaughnessy, told the lawmakers at the end of February that "a secure border reduces threats to the homeland," the situation at the border "is not a military threat."
O 'Shaughnessy said that he could also see that "any barrier in place to secure our country also affects our ability to defend ourselves against a military threat." But, he told lawmakers, "for the moment, there is no specific military weapon. force from the south that we try to take action. "
On the same day, US military documents were written last week, President Trump told reporters Wednesday at a round table held in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday that he "was going to have to call on to more military "in response to the recent increase in the number of asylum seekers on the southern border. The president also seemed to lament that members of the army can not be "a little tough" with asylum seekers.
"Our military, do not forget, can not act as they normally would because they were getting a bit difficult, everyone would go crazy," Trump said before blaming "horrible laws that the Democrats will not change "for the inability of the military to exert more force.
The comments were made a few days after the dismissal of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on April 7. In the run-up to his resignation, Nielsen pushed back the pressure to submit a new request to the Department of Defense requesting the support of thousands of new US forces at the summit. US-Mexico border, a military official at the Pentagon said Newsweek expressing the condition of anonymity due to the regulation of the media governing contacts with members of the press.
Nielsen's departure from the White House came after months of speculation about the end of the turbulent tenure of the former DHS head at the White House – as well as the tumultuous relationship with Trump -. For more than two years at the head of the department, Nielsen has been repeatedly reprimanded privately in front of his counterparts, which has been repeatedly repressed by his leadership. She spoke of the driving role she played in slowing the influx of undocumented immigrants. administration.
Trump reportedly asked Nielsen to close the ports of entry along the border and stop accepting asylum seekers, The New York Times reported on April 7. The president rejected these claims in a tweet Sunday.
A US military source informed of heated exchanges between the White House and DHS confirmed the Times & # 39; report and says Newsweek Nielsen's alleged refusal to re-apply for additional US troops in anticipation of his resignation.
"Yes, not only that, it was becoming routine for her to answer," Mr. J would like a lot, Mr. President, but it's illegal to do so, "the source said.
Attempts to reach Nielsen by Newsweek by phone and email failed.
In recent days, the president has confirmed that, in order to punish his Democratic opponents, he is planning to resettle a large number of migrants held in sanctuary towns, where they would then be released. Top Democrats in the House, including Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, are demanding more information about the proposal, which has been criticized by a democrat targeted as "inconceivable", "vindictive" and "anti-American".
After several requests, a spokesman for the Thompson Committee was not able to Newsweek with comments on the latest Trump troop deployment order on the southern border. Renowned MP Mike Rogers, MP, made a statement through his director of communications, Nicole Hager.
"A member of the ranks, Rogers, thinks Congress needs to take action to deal with the crisis at the border," she said. "He is in favor of investment in technology, barriers and resources of the 21st century CBP, so that the sending of troops to the border is no longer necessary."
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