Biden administration weighing to send 1,500 troops to border
Biden administration considers sending 1,500 active-duty US troops to southern border ahead of Title 42 ending next week amid concerns of wave of migrants
- The White House is weighing whether to send 1,500 active duty troops to the US border next week before the end of Title 42
- Troops would perform support duties for border agents, Fox News reported
- Title 42 ends May 11; wave of migrants expected in its wake
According to a new report on Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s administration is considering whether to send 1,500 active duty troops to the US border before the end of Title 42 next week.
The soldiers would come from various active-duty military units and would primarily fill administrative and transportation roles to free up law enforcement and border security, two senior US officials said. Fox news.
The troops would not aid law enforcement, but would be there to support the 18,600 agents at the border, freeing them for a suspected wave of migrants after Title 42 expires on May 11.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Above a migrant caravan in Chiapas, Mexico, heading for the border ahead of Title 42 which expires May 11
By some estimates, up to 35,000 asylum seekers are waiting to cross the US border once the pandemic-era Title 42 expires next week.
The Donald Trump-era order allowed migrants to be quickly rejected at the border and returned to Mexico, citing the COVID pandemic.
Mayor Oscar Leeser of El Paso, Texas, declared a state of emergency on Monday ahead of his city’s expected surge, but warned migrants that they cannot enter the US without some documentation.
“We are not opening the borders. The borders are not open today and they will not be open on May 12,” he said.
Then-President Trump had sent troops to the border in October 2018 for support as a caravan of more than 4,000 migrants headed from Mexico to the United States.
They acted as support staff and their duties included transporting border officials by helicopter and manning command and control centers, in addition to helping to erect tents and manage crowds.
Biden’s force is expected to do the same.
President Joe Biden weighs whether to send 1,500 active duty troops to the US border next week before the end of Title 42
The troops will come from 25 states and US territories Washington examiner reported.
They will stay in the four southern border states for 400 days and return home around Thanksgiving next year.
This deployment is one of 17 by the Department of Defense in the past 21 years, under four separate administrations, U.S. Northern Command spokesman Lieutenant Commander Bill Lewis told the news outlet.
“The Department of Defense’s mission-enhancing support enables Customs and Border Protection to address security challenges and more efficiently conduct their law enforcement mission along the southern border,” said Lewis.