WHITE HOUSE PLANS TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO US-MEXICAN BORDER
WASHINGTON— The Trump administration is planning to send 800 or more troops to secure US-Mexican border before the arrival of a migrant caravan from Central America.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to sign an order sending the troops to the border, bolstering National Guard forces already there, a US official said Thursday.
The action comes as President Donald Trump has spent recent days calling attention to the caravan walking through Mexico, 1,000 miles from US soil.
Top issue
Trump, who made fear about immigrants a major theme of his 2016 election campaign, has been eager to make it a top issue heading into the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
The additional troops would provide logistical and other support to the Border Patrol, said the official, who stressed the plan had not yet been finalized and formally announced.
The troops will not be on armed security missions and would only assist the Border Patrol by providing things such as vehicles, tents and equipment.
Infiltration
There already are about 2,000 National Guard troops there under a previous Pentagon arrangement.
Trump has used the caravan to bolster his election-season warnings that the US is being infiltrated by illegal immigrants “pouring across the border.”
He has claimed without any apparent basis in fact that “Middle Easterners” were among the shirking group. At rallies and on Twitter, Trump has tried to portray the Democrats as proillegal immigration, even claiming, with no evidence, that Democrats had organized and paid for the caravan.