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The US military plans to deploy 5,000 troops to the US's southwestern border in anticipation of a caravan of asylum seekers and potential migrants heading to northern Mexico, US officials said Monday. .
The new figure represents a significant increase over initial estimates of 800 men and would represent a military force equivalent to about one third of the number of customs officers currently working at the border. The army sent about 2,000 National Guard soldiers to the area earlier this year.
US and federal law enforcement officials said troops would likely be deployed at entry points, at least in the early phases of the US military mission, which the Pentagon called Operation Faithful Patriot.
US troops later wait to help border authorities by building tents, providing medical support and badisting the command and control centers.
According to the latest plans, about 1,800 soldiers will go to Texas, 1,700 in Arizona and 1,500 in California. The troops will come from a dozen US military installations and will be largely composed of military police and engineers, said one of the US officials. US Marines will also be deployed, said the US official.
A Honduran was killed in clashes between a group of migrants and police on the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Photo: Esteban Biba / Zuma Press
Some have already begun to deploy in the region and most of them are expected to serve there until mid-December, said a Pentagon official.
The additional troops would mean that the number of US forces deployed at the border would be greater than the number currently deployed in Syria and Iraq, and about half of those deployed in Afghanistan.
A Pentagon spokesman described the figures for troop deployments as "premature".
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said on Friday that the agency was not planning to deploy troops to enforce the immigration law.
McAleenan said his agency was updating its long-standing plans to deal with a mbadive migration situation, including possible temporary detention and processing facilities.
He said officials will develop plans to ensure that "we can secure ports (entry) to prevent a large group from arriving at the same time," McAleenan said. .
Earlier this year, Homeland Security officials, including Mr. McAleenan and Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, publicly encouraged potential asylum seekers to seek refuge at entry points, saying that Was the only legal way to ask for asylum at the airport. American border. Crossing the border illegally is a federal offense.
Since the spring, foreigners have regularly waited days or weeks to cross the border and seek asylum at San Diego border posts in Brownsville, Texas, forcing them to stay in shelters in Mexico.
Mr. McAleenan, who spoke to reporters on Friday during a visit to the ports of entry near San Diego, said the agency was preparing emergency plans to increase the number of asylum seekers in the ports of entry, including the anticipated arrival of thousands of migrants in the caravan. traveling from Central America to Mexico. The plans include an extension of the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter each port each day.
The agency is also considering how to deal with people waiting in Mexico, according to US border officials, if the president temporarily bars asylum seekers at the border.
Write to Nancy A. Youssef to [email protected] and Alicia A. Caldwell to [email protected]
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