US military to send 1,000 troops to Mexico border

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US President Donald Trump's administration may send up to 1,000 active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Thursday, as Trump hammered away at the issue of illegal immigration ahead of congressional elections.

Trump's threat was sparked by the advance of a caravan of Central American migrants trekking through Mexico, heading towards the United States.

"I am bringing out the military for this National Emergency. They will be stopped!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Screenshot of US President Donald Trump's post on Twitter, October 25, 2018 /CGTN Photo

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked the Pentagon to send forces to the border in a preliminary request that could require deploying between 800 and 1,000 active-duty troops, two US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The US military is prohibited from carrying out civilian law enforcement on US soil unless specifically authorized by Congress.

Although Trump's language has suggested the military might be directly involved in preventing the migrants from entering the United States, one official said the troops would engage only in logistics and infrastructure services, like setting up tents, and not law enforcement activities.

There are currently 2,100 National Guard – reserve troops – along with the border but the DHS request could lead to the first large-scale deployment of active duty US military forces to support the border protection mission under Trump.

The Pentagon said it was working with DHS to "determine the specifics of our support" to the Customs and Border Protection agency, part of DHS.

Aerial view of Honduran migrants taking part in a caravan heading to the US, as they wash clothes and bathe in a river in Pijijiapan, Chiapas state, Mexico, October 25, 2018 /VCG Photo

Trump and his fellow Republicans have sought to make the caravan and immigration major issues ahead of the November 6 midterm elections, in which the party is trying to maintain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The caravan of migrants continued on Thursday their slow trek toward the distant US border.

Men, women, and children set off at dawn from the town of Mapastepec, in Chiapas state, southern Mexico.

A migrant, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America en route to the United States, looks on as she makes her way to Pijijiapan from Mapastepec, Mexico, October 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

A local official said 5,300 migrants had assembled in the town on Wednesday night.

As the sun began to blaze, they marched 30 miles (48 km) to the town of Pijijiapan, where they rested on blankets and tarps spread out in the main park. A group of Mexican police, who said responsibility for deporting migrants rested with immigration officials, tried to flag down rides for some.

Meanwhile, further south in Guatemala, a second caravan of more than a thousand people that had formed on Monday but since broken up into smaller groups also pushed on northwards. Lucrecia Oliva, a worker at a migrant shelter in Guatemala's capital, said 400 migrants arrived on Wednesday in small clusters.

On Thursday afternoon, around 60 Honduran migrants sat in the street outside, eating donated food and resting.

Go back

"To those in the Caravan, turnaround, we are not letting people into the United States illegally. Go back to your Country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Screenshot of US President Donald Trump's post on Twitter, October 25, 2018. /CGTN Photo

"We feel like he's not human," said Carlos Fernandez, a 39-year old bricklayer, speaking by phone from the Guatemala-Mexico border after traveling since last Friday from the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras.

"If someone migrates to the United States, it's to work, and working is not a crime," he said.

Trump pledged during the 2016 presidential race to build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico. However, funding for his signature campaign promise has been slow to materialize, even though his party controls Congress.

Honduran migrants heading in a caravan to the United States, rest at the central park of Ciudad Tecun Uman, Guatemala, at the border with Mexico, October 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

In April, frustrated by lack of progress on the wall, Trump ordered the National Guard to help secure the border.

Adam Isacson, an official at the Washington Office on Latin America, a group that advocates for migrant rights, expressed misgivings about the potential deployment.

"Even if it's a short-term deployment, it's another step toward militarization of our border," Isacson said, adding that 40 percent of people being apprehended at the border were children and families.

(Top image: US President Donald Trump speaks at a reception at the White House in Washington, DC, US, October 25, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters