Small Wars Journal

Defense Secretary Approves Sending More Troops to Mexican Border

Sat, 10/27/2018 - 12:21am

Defense Secretary Approves Sending More Troops to Mexican Border by Nancy A. Youssef and Vivian Salama – Wall Street Journal

The U.S. defense secretary on Friday approved a request to deploy additional U.S. troops along the U.S.-Mexico border, fulfilling President Trump’s vow to use the American military in an expanding campaign to stop a caravan of migrants and asylum seekers.

The military deployment is part of a new round of administration action on immigration that includes a threat by the Trump administration to seal border entry ports to migrants, including asylum seekers.

The latest moves were seen by both supporters and opponents as an escalation of the administration’s confrontational stance on immigration, striking political and legal nerves around the country.

The new troops likely will come from active duty military units instead of the National Guard, a U.S. official said, and will arrive in so-far unspecified border locations next week.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis approved the request, which was submitted by the Department of Homeland Security, for the troops to augment an existing force of approximately 2,000 National Guard members sent last spring…

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