Trump’s military accumulation on the border develops

Over the past four months, the Pentagon has sent thousands of active service combat troops and Stryker combat vehicles armored to the southwest border to face what President Trump declared on his first day in power was an “invasion” of migrants, drug cartels and smugglers.

That’s not all. The army also sent U-2 espionage planes, surveillance drones, helicopters and even two naval warships to monitor borders and coasts 24 hours a day.

The accumulation of forces underlines how Trump breaks with the practice of his predecessors to limit mainly deployments along the American-mexic border to a small number of soldiers and reservists in active service. About 2,500 troops in active service were at the border at the end of the Biden administration. Now there are about 8,600.

During a recent visit with troops in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the border was quite calm. The crossings, which have decreased sharply in the decreasing months of the Biden administration, have dropped again since the Trump administration declared its objective of obtaining an operational control “100%” from the border with Mexico. In April, around 8,000 people were arrested after crossing the border illegally, against around 128,000 people a year earlier, according to statistics from the US government.

Despite this, there is no end in sight for the military mission on the border, which, according to the Pentagon, has cost $ 525 million so far.

Deployments continue to grow in size, range and sophistication, even if the debate on the advantages and disadvantages rages, and the army widens its territorial authorities to help prohibit migrants.