US military sends thousands more troops to southern border

CNN
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Thousands of additional active-duty U.S. troops have been sent to the U.S. southern border with Mexico, just two days after President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to increase its presence there, officials say close to the file.

There are already about 2,200 active forces on the border as part of Joint Task Force-North, U.S. Northern Command’s border mission based in El Paso, Texas. They help support the work of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, primarily performing logistical and bureaucratic tasks such as data entry, detection and surveillance, and vehicle maintenance.

It is not yet clear which specific units are being sent to the border.

There is also a National Guard contingent on the border called Operation Lonestar, led by the Texas National Guard. According to the Texas Military Department, approximately 4,500 National Guardsmen are currently assigned to the mission.

The additional active-duty troops sent to the border this week will do much of the same thing, officials said, and are expected to fuel and reinforce Joint Task Force-North.

They will help maintain Border Patrol operational readiness, assist command and control centers and provide more intelligence specialists to assess threats and migrant flows, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The troops are also expected to strengthen air assets and contribute to air operations.

Even more active-duty troops are expected to be deployed to the border in the coming weeks and months, one of the officials said, with this first wave laying the groundwork for a larger military footprint.

It is not yet known whether the troops will be armed. But none of the active-duty troops are authorized to perform any law enforcement role, such as making arrests or seizing drugs, or interacting with migrants other than to help transport them to and around from different migrant centers.