Monday, February 04, 2019

Trump Sends More Troops to the Border

Pentagon Deploying 3,750 Troops To Southern Border. NPR: “Another 3,750 troops will be sent to the southern border to help install wire barriers and to monitor crossings, officials said. The new deployment will bring the total number of active-duty troops there to around 6,000. In a tweet on Sunday, President Trump said that “STRONG border security” is necessary in the face of “Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country.” The announcement of new troops on Sunday comes just days before Trump is expected to discuss border security measures during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday that the troops would be deployed to the border over the next month, NPR’s Tom Bowman reported. They’ll join the 2,300 active-duty troops already there, bringing the total to about the same number as were deployed in the fall. Another 2,100 National Guard troops are also stationed there. “At the Pentagon, people I talk with say, listen: this is a waste of money,” Bowman said. Stringing razor wire is a job better suited to the National Guard, they tell Bowman; “you don’t use active-duty troops for this.” Military troops deployed at the border “are not allowed to apprehend migrants the way border agents do,” NBC News reported.”

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