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President Trump is prepared to send thousands more U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, and up to 15,000 troops could deploy, he said.
The President spoke briefly to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday where he said “we’ll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border,” the Associated Press reported.
JUST IN: Days before midterms, Pres. Trump says military’s border mission could increase to 15,000 troops.
“As far as the caravan is concerned, our military is out. We have about 5,000…we’ll do up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel.” https://t.co/a5rqJgAZlm pic.twitter.com/ckn3iSdJ2T
— ABC News (@ABC) October 31, 2018
Such a number of troops is comparable to the number of troops currently deployed to Afghanistan.
President Trump called the U.S.-bound migrant caravan heading through Mexico “very dangerous.”
In Q&A before leaving WH, Pres called the migrant caravans “very dangerous.” He said there’s 5,800 troops on the border now and the number could be increased to between 10 and 15 thousand. “We’re not allowing people to come in,” he said of the caravans. pic.twitter.com/KOWqnsZXCe
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 31, 2018
There are approximately 5,800 troops currently at the border in preparation to block the migrant caravan’s attempts to enter the U.S.
The caravan is comprised of an estimated 7,000 migrants mostly from Honduras. It is currently about 1,000 miles from the border.
“We’re not allowing people to come in,” President Trump said.
Here’s Trump’s full answer he just gave to reporters on the WH lawn, where he suddenly dropped that there could be up to 15,000 troops deployed to the border, says he’s “not fear mongering at all” followed by “they’ll be here fast, They’re trying to get up any way they can.” pic.twitter.com/tCTqOvDj9y
— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) October 31, 2018
Some have criticized the measure of deploying troops, calling it a “stunt.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis pushed back against the notion on Wednesday, telling reporters at the Pentagon, “We don’t do stunts in this department.”
Earlier this month, Trump warned that he would “call up” the U.S. military to close the U.S.-Mexico border if the migrant caravan was not stopped.
“In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” he tweeted at the time.
….In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
