WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Pentagon is pulling 1,100 active duty troops from the US-Mexico border it deployed earlier this year as the government prepared for the end of asylum restrictions linked to the pandemic.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployment of a total of 1,500 active duty troops for a temporary 90-day military presence surge at the border in May. At the time, illegal border crossings were swiftly escalating with concerns they’d go even higher after the restrictions ended but instead the numbers have fallen.
The 1,100 troops will conclude their 90-day mission by Aug 8; the remaining 400 will be extended through August 31, a defence official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss details ahead of an announcement.
At the time the troop movements were made public officials stressed that the active-duty troops would not be taking front-line positions on the border or interacting with migrants but instead doing tasks like data entry or warehouse support with the goal of freeing up Customs and Border Protection personnel to be out in the field.
The troops were intended to help back up border officials dealing with the end of Title 42. That rule allowed the government to quickly expel tens of thousands of migrants from the country in the name of protecting America from COVID-19.
In the days leading up to the end of Title 42, border agents were encountering 10,000 migrants a day and at one point had 27,000 migrants in custody. But immediately after Title 42 expired, the numbers dropped sharply to about 5,000 encounters a day, and have stayed low, according to the agency’s data.
The departures also do not impact an additional 2,300 National Guard troops under federal orders who remain at the border in similar supporting roles, National Guard chief General Dan Hokanson said last week. Those troops will not be extended, but other units will be rotated in to replace them when their deployments end. — NNN-AGENCIES
