China Daily Global Edition (USA)
US to send 5,200 troops to border
WASHINGTON — The United States said on Monday it will send more than 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico, a far larger-thanexpected deployment as US President Donald Trump hardens his stance on immigration ahead of the Nov 6 midterm elections.
The deployment will create an active-duty force comparable in size to the US military contingent in Iraq, as Trump’s administration draws attention to a caravan of migrants that is trekking through Mexico toward the United States.
General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, the head of US Northern Command, said 800 US troops were already en route to the Texas border and more were headed to the borders in California and Arizona.
“The president has made it clear that border security is national security,” O’Shaughnessy said, as he detailed a much larger deployment than the 800 to 1,000 troops predicted by US officials last week.
O’Shaughnessy said some soldiers would be armed, although it was unclear who, beyond US military police, might need those weapons. US officials have stressed that the troops would not police the border and instead would carry out support roles like building tents and barricades, and flying US customs personnel to locations along the border.
Trump railed against illegal immigration to win the 2016 US presidential election and has seized on the caravan of Central American migrants at campaign rallies in the runup to next week’s vote, firing up support for his Republican Party.
If the Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, it could become much harder for Trump to pursue his policy agenda.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in late September and early October, 75 percent of Republican voters said illegal immigration is a very big problem, compared with 19 percent of Democrats.
Trump said on Twitter on Monday that the military would be waiting for the procession.