Washington, May 2 The 1,500 reinforcement soldiers that the United States Government announced this Tuesday that it will send to the border with Mexico will begin their deployment on May 10, one day before the lifting of a rule by which the country has carried out hot expulsions.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told a news conference that “those troops will arrive as early as May 10 and in the coming weeks.”
He specified that they are active soldiers and not in the reserve, as has happened on previous occasions.
Ryder announced Tuesday that the Department of Defense was going to deploy 1,500 uniformed personnel on the border with Mexico temporarily, for 90 days, at the request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Throughout that period, the Pentagon will explore other options in the future to replace those active forces with others in the reserve or resort to the help of contractors.
The spokesman specified that, specifically, the units that will be sent to the border are part of the Army and the Marine Corps, and stressed that these troops will offer support to the agents of the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, in English).
The government of the US president, Democrat Joe Biden, has specified that the soldiers will not carry out “law enforcement” tasks, but rather support the CBP in the detection and surveillance of the border.
In fact, the spokeswoman for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, clarified today that these additional troops will carry out “administrative tasks” and will not “interact with immigrants.”
The announcement comes as the US is preparing for an increase in the migratory flow due to the lifting of Title 42 as of May 11, a measure for which it has carried out expulsions on the fly under the pretext of the pandemic.
“In light of the changes on May 11 and the anticipated increase (in the flow of migrants), DHS reached out to us and asked for support in regards to the number of military there now,” Ryder said.
There are currently some 2,500 members of the National Guard at the border, which is a reserve military corps, dedicated to supporting the CBP in detecting and monitoring the area and providing aviation support.
During the term of former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021), there was a deployment of more than 5,000 regular soldiers on the southern border that was announced a few days before the 2018 legislative elections. On that occasion they were members of the National Guard.
Asked why this time they have chosen to send active soldiers, Ryder justified it as a matter of “preparation”: “This is going to react. DHS has asked us for support and the ability to provide backup quickly by our active forces is really key here.”
In that sense, he added that by sending active duty military the Pentagon can respond “very quickly.”
Title 42 has allowed more than 2.5 million expulsions of immigrants since it went into effect in 2020 under the pretext of the pandemic during Trump’s term.
In a hearing before a congressional committee this month, acting CBP Director Troy Miller said the number of irregular border crossings is expected to rise to 10,000 a day once the regulations are lifted. EFE
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