WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon is deploying 5,200 troops to Americas southwest border in an extraordinary military operation a week before nationwide elections in which President Donald Trump wants voters to focus on a slow-moving invasion of Central American migrants.
The number of troops being sent is more than double the 2,000 who are in Syria fighting the Islamic State group.
Two caravans of would-be migrants, mostly on foot and seeking asylum, are still around a thousand miles from the U.S. border with Mexico.
Trump, eager to keep voters focused on illegal immigration in the lead-up to the elections, stepped up his dire warnings about the caravans, tweeting, This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!
Any migrants who complete the long trek to the border already face major hurdles both physical and bureaucratic to being allowed to stay in the United States.
In an interview late Monday, Trump said the U.S. would build tent cities for asylum seekers.
Were going to put tents up all over the place, he told Fox News Channels Laura Ingraham. Theyre going to be very nice and theyre going to wait and if they dont get asylum, they get out.
Under current protocol, migrants who clear an initial screening are often released until their cases are decided in immigration court, which can take several years.
Trump denied his focus on the caravan is intended to help Republicans in next weeks midterms, saying, This has nothing to do with elections.
The Pentagons Operation Faithful Patriot was described by the commander of U.S. Northern Command as an effort to help Customs and Border Protection harden the southern border by stiffening defenses at and near legal entry points. Advanced helicopters will allow border protection agents to swoop down on migrants trying to cross illegally, said Air Force Gen. Terrence OShaughnessy.
Troops planned to bring heavy concertina wiring to unspool across open spaces between ports.
We will not allow a large group to enter the U.S. in an unlawful and unsafe manner, said Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.
Eight hundred troops already are on their way to southern Texas, OShaughnessy said, and their numbers will top 5,200 by weeks end. Some of the troops will be armed. He said troops would focus first on Texas, followed by Arizona and then California.
The troops will join the more than 2,000 National Guardsmen that Trump has already deployed to the border. It remained unclear Monday why the administration was choosing to send active-duty troops given that they will be limited to performing the same support functions the Guard already is doing.
The number of people in the first migrant caravan headed toward the U.S. has dwindled to about 4,000 from about 7,000 last week, though a second one was gaining steam and marked by violence. About 600 migrants in the second group tried to cross a bridge from Guatemala to Mexico en masse Monday. The riverbank standoff with Mexico police followed a more violent confrontation Sunday when the migrants used sticks and rocks against officers. One migrant was killed Sunday night by a head wound, but the cause was unclear.
