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As thousands of migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers converge on the threshold of the United States, they will not discover that armed American soldiers are on guard.
Instead, they will see cranes install massive metal bar panels and soldiers wrap accordion wires around gates while military helicopters fly over their vehicles, carrying border patrol officers to and from the border. US-Mexican border.
This is because US military troops are prohibited from performing policing duties.
In addition, the bulk of the troops are in Texas, hundreds of kilometers from the caravan that began arriving this week in Tijuana, on the border between Mexico and California, after having walked and hitched last month.
A flawless stayDemonstration of strength
Nevertheless, for many migrants, gates and barbed wire were a show of force.
Angel Ulloa was on the beach in Tijuana, where a wall of metal bars over 20 feet high crossed the sand and plunged into the Pacific. He saw teams from the US side placing reels of barbed wire on top.
A border police officer dressed in camouflage and armed with an assault rifle, part of a tactical unit deployed when there was an increased threat, stepped into the sand in below the place where the men worked. A small border patrol boat hovered off.
"It's too much of a security to face humble people who just want to work," said Ulloa, a 23-year-old electrician from Choloma, Honduras, who joined the caravan to try and make his first trip to the States. -United.
Now he and his two friends were rethinking their plans. They tried to apply for a job at a Wal-Mart store in Tijuana, but were told that they needed a Mexican work permit. They planned to ask for asylum in Mexico but did not know how to give up their dream of making money.
"We are always checking things out," he said.
A flawless stayDeploy a surprise
On Friday, passersby heading for one of the busiest border posts in the world passed by a pair of Marines on a 20-foot freight elevator, installing a razor wire over a turnstile.
Sgt. Of the nearby army Eric Ziegler stood guard with another soldier. Both were military police officers charged with protecting the Marines during their work.
The 24-year-old Pittsburgh soldier spent nine months in Afghanistan.
"It's very different there, obviously. It's a lot more dangerous, "said Ziegler.
He said that he was surprised to receive his deployment orders sending him to the US-Mexico border.
"But I'm happy to go where I need me," he added as a man walking near his home carried shopping bags and headed for Tijuana.
A flawless stayNo duty to enforce the law
The US military has deployed 5,800 troops on active duty at the US-Mexico border.
So far, no more is expected, despite President Donald Trump's initial assessment that between 10,000 and 15,000 people were needed to secure the border against what he called an "invasion." "of migrants. In the caravan of several thousand people, most are families, including hundreds of children.
Another 2,100 National Guard soldiers have also been deployed since April as part of a separate mission. Like military troops, they are not allowed to detain illegal smugglers. Instead, they monitor the cameras and help erect barriers.
Of the 5,800 soldiers and navies, more than 2,800 are in Texas, about 1,500 in Arizona and 1,300 in California. All branches of the US military, with the exception of the Coast Guard, are barred from performing law enforcement duties.
This means that there will be no visible demonstration of armed troops, said Major-General Scott McCullough, adding that the mission was to provide support for customs and protection borders.
"Soldiers installing border wires and gates at entry points will be the most visible," he said.
Border barriers
Combat engineers, whose tasks on the battlefield include the establishment of tactical obstacles to prevent the enemy from moving freely, use their expertise to string wires on the walls of the border and erect temporary fencing, said McCullough.
Construction engineers have been tasked with welding barriers and moving shipping containers for them to serve as walls.
In Laredo, Texas, about 100 soldiers put three layers of razor wire along the Rio Grande, working on banks during the day and on bridges at night to minimize the disruption of cross-border traffic.
How much does it cost?
The current mission is scheduled for December 15 at the moment. We do not know how much it will cost and the military leaders refused to provide an estimate.
Critics have questioned the opportunity to use the army at the border where there is no noticeable security threat. Since the November 6 elections, Trump has spoken little about the issue and no threat to the border has materialized.
Some border communities fear that barricades will frighten Mexican buyers. Nogales, Arizona City Council halved bonus proposal for all employees, fearing military presence will affect sales tax revenues after army closed two tracks at his border crossing.
Suyapa Reyes, 35, said she did not understand why she would be perceived as a threat. Reyes, his mother, his 12-year-old daughter and his 16-year-old son left Honduras with the caravan on October 13, fleeing violence and poverty in his hometown of Olanchito de Oro.
She does not want to come back after such a long drive, but if she can not get asylum and the border seems too dangerous to cross, she said she would have no other choice.
"I will not risk my life or my safety or that of my children," she said.
