US-Mexico border: Pentagon to deploy an extra 2,000 troops
6 hours ago (4 Feb, 2019)
The US is to send an additional 2,000
troops to its border with Mexico, the
Pentagon has announced.
It will bring the total number of troops
stationed on the southern border to about
4,300.
The Pentagon said the soldiers would help
border-patrol agents, carry out surveillance
work and install miles of razor wire.
It comes as President Donald Trump battles
Congress for funds to build a wall along the
border.
He says such a measure is needed to stop
illegal immigration.
Mr Trump's insistence that the lower house of
Congress, now controlled by his Democratic
opponents, include funds for the wall in the US
budget recently led to the longest government
shutdown in US history.
He struck a temporary deal last month to
reopen government departments but has
threatened to trigger another shutdown
or declare a national emergency if his
demands are not met. The current agreement
expires on 15 February.
Mr Trump is expected to again highlight the
issue in his annual State of the Union speech
on Tuesday.
What is the latest?
The US defence department said 3,750 extra
soldiers would be sent to the border,
although many will replace troops already
there. The first deployments took place in
November.
"Additional units are being deployed for 90
days, and we will continue to evaluate the
force composition required to meet the
mission to protect and secure the southern
border," a Pentagon statement said.
Their tasks will include "a mobile
surveillance capability through the end of
September 2019, as well as the emplacement
of approximately 150 miles of concertina
wire between ports of entry".
Last Thursday, President Trump tweeted
that extra forces were being sent to the
border to stop migrants who he said were
travelling in "caravans" and threatening an
"invasion".
He reiterated his claims on Sunday tweeting: "If
there is no wall there is no security."
Mr Trump has repeatedly described the
situation on the Mexican border as a "crisis",
although his critics have dismissed the use
of troops as a political stunt.
Mr Trump is, however, not the first US
president to send troops to the border with
Mexico. President Barack Obama sent some
1,200 National Guard soldiers to guard the
boundary while President George W Bush
deployed about 6,000 troops to help Border
Patrol agents in what was called Operation
Jump Start.
What is happening at the
border?
Officials in Texas recently revealed that nine
migrants on hunger strike at an immigration
detention centre were being force-fed.

Immigration officials are using plastic nasal

tubes to feed some of the men, but relatives
say it is causing severe nosebleeds and
vomiting.

The detainees have refused food in protest

against conditions at the El Paso Processing
Center.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(ICE) says a federal judge authorised the
force-feeding last month.