Immigration clampdown: US military to send more troops to Mexico border
The US military is set to deploy some 1,500 active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border as part of President Donald Trump’s new immigration enforcement strategy. The controversial move comes days after he declared a state of emergency at the border and signed a series of executive actions targeting immigration and birthright citizenship.
The US military will send 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the border with Mexico, the White House said on Wednesday, just two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on immigration.
The additional troops would be joining the roughly 2,200 active-duty and thousands of National Guard troops already on the border.
During his first term, Republican Trump ordered 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico. Democratic former President Joe Biden deployed active-duty troops to the border as well.
"This comes off of (Trump's) day one action... to direct the Department of Defense to make homeland security a core mission of the agency," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
A separate official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there had been informal discussions about sending as many as 10,000 troops over time. But, the official said, the troop numbers would depend on several factors, including impact on military readiness and what the Department for Homeland Security requests.
(Reuters)
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