A new report out today suggests that Trump could be sending as many as 10,000 troops to the border in the next few months. Or it could be closer to 3,000 troops.
Either way it looks like Trump is trying to get some military help to the border and it’s long over due:
NEWSWEEK – President Donald Trump ordered thousands of additional American troops to the southwest border over the next two months, according to a document drafted last week by Defense Department officials and obtained by Newsweek.
Officials in U.S. Army North, the unit overseeing the border mission, drafted the deployment orders in anticipation of a new request from Homeland Security to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the ongoing joint agency border mission.
The document further demonstrated President Trump’s increasing urgency to address a crisis at the southern border, with the orders being drafted days after Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned on April 7.
Four Defense Department sources told Newsweek the document appears to show between 9,000 to 10,000 more U.S. forces heading to the southwest border over the next few months; however, the Pentagon said Tuesday the document is misleading as not every individual service member in a unit selected to deploy will go.
A Pentagon spokesperson told Newsweek by phone Tuesday morning that U.S. military planners are anticipating sending a “brigade minus” or about 3,000 additional U.S. forces to join units already at the border, but they had not received a new request for assistance from Homeland Security to identify how many additional troops would be needed.
However, on Tuesday afternoon, the Pentagon emailed a Newsweek reporter and said the number is not 3,000, and the document Newsweek obtained was a draft copy and if Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan approved any Homeland Security request, the number of additional troops would range between 300 and 500.
Three Defense Department sources told Newsweek the document is not a draft copy and if it were, draft would be displayed on the document near the classification markings.
At the bottom of the copy obtained by Newsweek, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan, the commanding general of U.S. Army North, authenticated the document.
There’s a big difference between 3-500 and 3,000. I certainly hope that whatever they send is a lot more than 500. The border can use all the help that it can get.
It’s also not clear what the military will be doing to assist at the border, but if past experience is any indication they’ll be putting up barriers to prevent caravans from getting in.
I would also hope they can defend against these drug cartels that have been causing chaos in certain areas.
Via TRS
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