HOMELAND SECURITY WANTS TROOPS TO STAY
The department asked the Pentagon on Friday to extend the deployment of U.S. military personnel at the Mexico border through at least January.
WASHINGTON» The Department of Homeland Security asked the Pentagon on Friday for a 45-day extension of the U.S. military presence at the Mexico border, a request that would stretch the deployment until at least the end of January.
The Department of Defense is expected to agree to the extension in the coming days, well before the mission’s current expiration date, which is Dec. 15. Pentagon officials have said that some of the 6,000 active-duty personnel stationed along the border in Texas, Arizona and California would be brought home and replaced by other units.
President Donald Trump ordered the deployment to pre-empt the arrival of thousands of Central American migrants traveling in caravan groups and seeking to enter the United States. His administration has characterized the migrants, who have concentrated along Mexico’s border with California, as a grave security threat.
“Given the ongoing threat at our Southern border — today the Department of Homeland Security submitted a request for assistance to the Department of Defense to extend its support through January 31, 2019,” DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a news release. “This request refines support to ensure it remains aligned with the current situation, the nature of the mission, and (Customs and Border Protection) operational requirements.”
A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, confirmed the request.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also sent a memo to the departments of Justice, State and Interior, among others, requesting backup at the border from their law enforcement personnel. The unusual request would potentially deputize forest rangers, U.S. marshals and other federal officers to work as auxiliary immigration agents.
A Justice Department official confirmed Friday the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would provide 33 agents, and that the U.S. Marshals service is sending 10 of its staff to the border in California. Their precise role was not immediately clear, but an official said they would lend assistance at the request of CBP.
U.S. marshals and DEA agents already have a large and active presence along the Mexico border as part of their routine law enforcement duties.
“If the need arises for their services, they’ll be there,” the Justice Department official said. “The caravan presents a unique situation.”
DHS officials said Nielsen’s request did not indicate how many law enforcement officers the agency is seeking, but described the call for help as a unremarkable measure. “In line with the President’s direction and given the very real threat we face at the border from potential mass migration actions — of course, DHS has reached out for assistance from partners across the federal government to defend our sovereignty, protect our frontline men and women, and secure our border,” Waldman said.
Trump is the first president in a nearly a century to use large numbers of active-duty military personnel at the border; previous administrations have typically called upon National Guard units to back up U.S. agents during moments of heightened threats or surging migration. Critics of the administration say the border assignment risks undermining the military’s readiness for more important missions abroad, and that National Guard troops would be much more appropriate for a domestic mission in support of federal law enforcement.
U.S. law generally prohibits military personnel from performing law enforcement duties on American soil, and the troops stationed there now are supposed to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not make arrests or detain migrants.