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A few days before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump announced the deployment of active service troops on the southern border to prevent migrant caravans from crossing Mexico.
On Saturday, the initial border mission ends, but thousands of US troops will remain on a larger, smaller mission to support the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service. scheduled until 31 January.
At the height of the deployment, 5,900 active duty soldiers are stationed in California, Arizona and Texas. On Thursday, US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) said the figure had dropped to 4,200, but a US official told ABC News that he will ultimately only have 2,500 to 3,000 soldiers.
The downsizing of the mission came a few days after Trump suggested that the army could be used to build a wall on the southern border. A Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday in a statement that there was "no plan to build walls of the wall".
A troop rotation was established for the extension, allowing those who were deployed during Thanksgiving to return home for Christmas, said the official.
The Pentagon estimated that the initial deployment until Dec. 15 would cost taxpayers $ 72 million, but the expanded mission is expected to cost less because of reduced footprint and the fact infrastructure is already in place and materials such as accordion wire have been put in place. already been bought and used.
CPS Weichman / Department of Defense The Expanded Mission will focus on California, where thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in America Central have arrived in Tijuana and many are waiting to apply for asylum.
In late November, a group of migrants attempted to illegally cross the US-Mexico border near the San Ysidro port, prompting CBP officers to use tear gas and to close cross-border traffic for several hours. But since that incident, the border has been relatively calm.
Brendan Mullin / United States Marine Corps Since the deployment, military engineers have built approximately 70 miles of wire obstacles and placed mobile gates in 22 ports in California, Arizona. and Texas, NORTHCOM announced. Military Police units, trained to supplement CBP officers in the event of another cross-border skirmish with migrants, organized more than 10,000 hours of training within the unit.
1) In recent weeks, military engineers have set up approx. 100 km of wired obstacles and mobile barriers placed at 22 ports of entry in California, Arizona and Texas. Engineers used more than 480 km of single-stranded concertina wires to create the 70-kilometer obstacle.
– NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@Norad_Northcom) 13 December 2018
"With the completion of the hardening of the border Missions, some elements of engineering, logistics and headquarters will redeploy to their respective bases to prepare for other missions," said NORTHCOM Thursday in a tweet .
Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters who accompanied him to Ottawa last week that he would leave engineers in Texas and Arizona "we had to close the entrance gates ", as in San Ysidro.
"But a number of these troops will withdraw," Mattis said, adding, "The missions are over, they are coming home."
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