Donald Trump deploys 5,200 troops to US-Mexico border to stop ‘invasion’ by migrants
- Deployment will create an active-duty force comparable in size to the US military contingent in Iraq
- Trump plans ‘tent cities’ at US-Mexico border
The Pentagon is deploying 5,200 active-duty troops to strengthen security along the US-Mexico border in a bid to prevent a caravan of Central American migrants from illegally crossing the frontier.
The move represents a massive military build-up along the border, where some 2,000 National Guardsmen are already working to provide help to overwhelmed authorities.
US President Donald Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly said more troops are needed to tighten border security, and he has made political capital of the caravan ahead of crucial midterm congressional elections that could see the Democrats regain some degree of power.
According to US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, US authorities were tracking a group of about 3,500 people travelling north through the Chiapas-Oaxaca area in southern Mexico.
Additionally, officials were monitoring another group of about 3,000 people that had gathered at a border crossing between Guatemala and Mexico.
Even as US officials unveiled details of the military deployment, migrants were trying to cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala into Mexico on rafts made from truck tires, or by forming human chains to avoid being swept away.
Others swam across after Mexican authorities refused to open a border bridge.