Donald Trump’s troops at US-Mexico border wonder what the mission is
- US Defence Secretary James Mattis visits troops posted at the border in Texas amid criticism their deployment was a political stunt
- Migrants in a caravan of Central Americans arrived in Tijuana by the hundreds Wednesday
When a young soldier in Texas asked US Defence Secretary James Mattis whether his unit would soon be ordered to remove the razor wire and vehicle barriers they had installed at Mexico border crossings, Mattis couldn’t answer.
“Good question. We’ll let you know,” Mattis replied.
“Right now, the mission is put them in.”
Asked by another soldier to explain the goals of the border deployment, Mattis said: “Short term, get the obstacles in. Longer term … it is somewhat to be determined.”
The exchanges, during a visit by Mattis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to a muddy military encampment near the Texas border town of Donna, captured the uncertainty – and tedium – that surrounds US President Donald Trump’s pre-election decision to rush troops to the border in the largest such deployment in decades.
Nearly 6,000 Marines and Army soldiers are assisting the Border Patrol in Texas, Arizona and California by strengthening defences and building temporary encampments near dozens of border entry points. A total of about 7,000 troops may be deployed, officials said.