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The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that about 1,500 troops were
being sent to the border this week, as the department scrambles
to put in motion President Donald Trump’s executive order
demanding an immediate crackdown on immigration.
U.S. officials said they expect additional troops to be ordered
to deploy in the next few days as defense and homeland security
leaders iron out requests for more support.
The officials said it’s not yet clear how many more service
members would get tapped in the near future, but they would
include active duty, National Guard and Reserves, and come from
land, air and sea forces. Other defense and military officials
this week estimated that the additional number deployed could be
in the thousands.
The troops announced Wednesday include about 1,000 Army soldiers
from a variety of units and 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in
California.
Officials said Thursday that they expect the bulk of them to be
in El Paso — including Fort Bliss — or in San Diego by Friday,
where they will get their mission assignments and prepare to
spread out along the border. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity to provide details on troop movements.
There were already about 2,500 Guard and Reserve forces deployed
to the border, and the new 1,500 would add to that total. But
officials noted that given the length of the nearly 2,000-mile
border with Mexico, it will take additional forces to help put
large rolls of concertina wire barriers in place and provide
needed transportation, intelligence and other support to the
Border Patrol.
As of Thursday there were still no requests for the use of
military bases to house migrants or for troops to be used for
law enforcement duties.
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