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Nearly 8,000 U.S. troops will be sent to three border states in anticipation of a caravan of migrants and would-be asylum seekers now traveling through Mexico, a U.S. official said, marking another increase in the planned deployment.
By Election Day morning, more than 5,000 troops would be deployed in the three states, the U.S. military said Monday. Of those, roughly 2,700 are in Texas, 1,200 in Arizona and another 1,100 are in California, the Pentagon said.
Another 2,000-plus troops will be in place within days, a U.S. official said, bringing the final tally closer to 8,000. Last week, the Pentagon said the number of troops had increased to more than 7,000, up from an earlier estimate of 5,200 days earlier.
Last month, when the Trump administration first discussed deploying troops the border, officials suggested the figure would be around 800. The recent series of increases are based on requests from the Department of Homeland Security as the agency’s plans have evolved, the Pentagon said.
The deployment of that many active-duty troops in less than two weeks marks the current administration’s largest rapid movement of forces. Caravans of migrants and asylum-seekers, largely made up of Central Americans traveling through Mexico, have featured in a broader, heated immigration debate ahead of Tuesday’s election, particularly in several close congressional races.
President Trump has repeatedly called the caravan “an invasion” that demands a military response, although the Pentagon said Monday that troops serving would not receive combat pay, a stipend usually given to those serving in war zones.
Some former military commanders have said deploying troops to the border was a misuse of the military and would take resources and personnel away from training for external threats.
Most of the troops deploying are performing tasks such as logistics, engineering and medical support and consequently will not be armed, Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Monday.
Among those who will be armed are military police, who likely will be positioned near ports of entry through which members of the caravans are expected to arrive, defense officials said. Col. Manning did not say how many troops would be armed.
“There is no plan for U.S. military forces to be involved in the actual mission of denying people entry to the United States,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at Duke University Monday evening, publicly addressing the deployment for the first time.
“There is no plan for soldiers to come into contact with immigrants or to reinforce Department of Homeland Security as they’re conducting their mission,” he said. “We are providing enabling capabilities.”
Photos released by the Defense Department show troops wearing protective clothing and helmets, sometimes armed, placing razor wire along bridges in what the Pentagon has dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot.
Troops have started moving toward ports of entry—the border points for legal immigration—in Texas. But Pentagon officials said they could not say how many troops were at those sites. By the end of the week, troops will begin positioning around ports of entry in Arizona, a U.S. official said.
Members of the migrant caravans, one of which is roughly 700 miles from the nearest crossing and traveling by foot, are likely to attempt entering the U.S. at one of three borders areas where troops are now based because those locations are relatively safer and easier than others given their current course, the officials said.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis formally signed the order sending troops to the border over the weekend, a U.S. official said. The Pentagon said it still does not know how much the mission will cost or what part of its budget would pay for it. The deployment is slated to last until mid-December.
The Pentagon pushed back at suggestions Monday that the mission is politically motivated. A U.S. official said the department has rejected a handful of proposals from the Department of Homeland Security, including one informal request for troops to build facilities to detain migrants. The military said it also rejected an earlier suggestion for service members to badist with crowd control.
In addition to the active duty troops, there are more than 2,000 members of the National Guard along the border who deployed earlier this year.
Write to Nancy A. Youssef at [email protected]
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