Trump sends army, puts focus on border

WASHINGTON • Eager to focus voters on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections, President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his threats against a migrant caravan trudging slowly toward the U.S. border as the Pentagon prepared to deploy thousands of U.S. troops to support the border patrol.

Trump tweeted: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

His warning came as the Pentagon began executing a support mission dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot to provide military assistance requested by the Customs and Border Patrol. Two U.S. officials said the troop total was likely to be slightly above 5,000, with troops coming mainly from major army bases from coast to coast.

The Customs and Border Patrol is pushing a surge in personnel in response to the caravan of Central American immigrants, which was still hundreds of kilometres from the U.S. border, three administration officials said. The military troops are intended to assist the border patrol, not engage directly with migrants, several officials said.

The White House is also weighing additional border security measures, including blocking those travelling in the caravan from seeking legal asylum and keeping them from entering the U.S.

The escalating rhetoric and expected deployments come as the president has been trying to turn the caravan into a key election issue with just days to go before the midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress.

“This will be the election of the caravans, the Kavanaughs, law and order, tax cuts, and you know what else? It’s going to be the election of common sense,” Trump said at a rally in Illinois on Saturday night.

He continued his threats on Monday, tweeting that, “Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border.”

“Please go back,” he urged them, “you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

A possible announcement by Trump on other border measures had been tentatively slated for Tuesday, administration officials had said, but he is instead travelling to Pittsburgh, where a gunman massacred 11 people at a synagogue Saturday in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

The troops are expected to perform a wide variety of functions such as transporting supplies for the Border Patrol, but not engage directly with migrants seeking to cross the border from Mexico, officials said.

National Guard troops routinely perform those same functions, so it remains unclear clear why active duty forces would be used