Acting Defense Chief Approves Request To Send More Troops To US-Mexico Border - Pentagon

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) US Acting Defense Secretary Richard Spencer has approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to provide an additional 1,000 National Guard troops to the United States' border with Mexico to help with security tasks, a Department of Defense said in a statement.

"The Acting Secretary of Defense, Richard Spencer, approved Tuesday night the Department of Homeland Security's July 3, 2019, request for assistance to approve Title 32 duty status and funding for up to 1,000 Texas National Guard personnel with the consent of and under the command of Governor [Greg] Abbott, through September 30, 2019, in support of CBP's [Customs and Border Protection] effort to secure the southern land border of the United States," the Defense Department said in a press release on Wednesday.

About 750 National Guard troops will help Customs and Border Protection with operational, logistical, and administrative support at adult migrant holding facilities at sites in the Texas border towns of Donna and Tornillo, the release said.

Another 250 National Guard troops will help provide support at certain ports of entry and airports in Texas in order to enhance security and improve the flow of commercial traffic, the release said.

Moreover, the release said about 1,100 additional active-duty troops will deploy to the border in the next several weeks in order to provide Customs and Border Protection agents with support in border security operations.

Caravans of migrants from Central American countries seeking asylum began moving toward the United States through Mexico last fall. US President Donald Trump has called the surge of arrivals a crisis and declared a national emergency in February to secure funds for constructing a border wall.

More than one million migrants from the Central and South America are expected to cross the US border as illegal aliens this year.