President Donald Trump has begun the preparation to send approximately 10,000 troops to the southern border in order to support overwhelmed Border Patrol agents under new orders to end asylum. According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing document obtained by The Washington Post, the order directs agents to aid in stopping illegal migrants entry on grounds they have come through countries where communicable diseases are present.
In a briefing Tuesday to senior staff at the agency by newly appointed Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, he stated “this is just the beginning.” On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border and instructed the Pentagon to send troops, drones and other assets, as well as resume border wall construction. In his briefing, Banks instructed agents to use authority under an emergency order to close the border.
The Defense Department is said to send at least 1,500 additional active-duty ground troops, beginning at the southern border, in what could be the first of several waves of deployments, according to acting defense secretary Robert Salesses.
The Washington Post reports:
According to the CBP briefing documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to more than double its detention capacity by opening four new 10,000-bed facilities and 14 smaller sites with space for 700 to 1,000 people. The Defense Department may also utilize military bases as holding facilities, the document says. Trump officials have told lawmakers they will need billions of dollars in additional funding to meet the president’s deportation goals by ramping up ICE detention capacity.
As for the norther border, Canada is being asked to accept illegal migrants who cross at its border as well.
The Coast Guard’s new acting commandant, Admiral Kevin Lunday, directed his operational commanders to “immediately surge” cutters, aircraft, boats and Special Forces to the U.S. maritime borders Tuesday night. Specifically, the actions are sought to block the influx of migration from Haiti and Cuba by sea, as well as support border agents in the “Gulf of America” he said.
