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WASHINGTON – The US military will deploy over 5,200 troops, including soldiers who will be armed, to bolster President Donald Trump's efforts to secure the border with Mexico City, a senior U.S. general said on Monday.
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"I think the president has made it clear that it is a national security," General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, head of the US military's Northern Command, told a news conference in Washington.
The Customs and Border Patrol is a surge in Central American immigrants, which was still in the US. The military troops are intended to badist the border patrol, not engage directly with migrants, several officials said.
The announcement came hours after Trump tweeted: "This is an invasion of our country and our military is waiting for you!"
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The White House is also weighing additional border security measures, including blocking those traveling in the United States.
The escalating rhetoric and expected deployments as the president of the Republic of the United States.
"This will be the election of the caravans, the Kavanaughs, law and order, tax cuts, and you know what else? It's going to be the election of common sense, "Trump said at a rally in Illinois on Saturday night.
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He continued his threats on Monday, tweeting, without providing evidence, that, "Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed in the Caravan heading to our Southern Border."
"Please go back," he urged them, "you will be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our country and our military is waiting for you! "
A possible announcement by Trump on the other border measures had been tentatively slated for Tuesday, the official officials had said, but he is still traveling to Pittsburgh, where a gunman mbadacred 11 people at a synagogue Saturday in what is believed to be the deadliest attack Jews in US history. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday pushed off questions about the caravan and possible border measures.
Pentagon preparing for multiple scenarios
"We have a number of options on the table," she said, adding she'd let the public know of any future immigration speeches but she was unaware of any right now.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to postpone the planning of the first phase of the battle. The Journal reported that the Pentagon plans to deploy 5,000 troops, mainly military police and engineers.
The troops are expected to perform a wide variety of functions such as the Border Patrol, but do not engage directly with the United States. One U.S. official said the troops will be initially based in California, Texas and Arizona while the CBP works out where it wants to be. U.S. Transportation Command posted a video on its Facebook page Monday of a C-17 transport plane it was delivering Army equipment to the Southwest Border in support of Operation Faithful Patriot.
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migrant
National Guard troops routinely perform these same functions, so it remains unclear clear why active duty forces would be used. The National Guard is often used by states to help with border security. But active agents are rarely used in the United States except for domestic emergencies like hurricanes or floods.
The U.S. military has already delivered delivery to the border with the deployment plans.
Mattis told reporters traveling with him Sunday that the deployment was still being worked out, but that the additional troops would provide logistical and other support to the Border Patrol and the 2,000 National Guard forces already there. That includes functions such as air support and equipment, including vehicles and tents.
Trump has spent the last week trying to call attention to the caravan by Mexico. It remains hundreds of miles from U.S. soil.
– Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Prague contributed to this report. With files from Reuters.
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