BORDER SECURITYWhy Are Active-Duty Troops Being Sent to U.S.-Mexico Border?
The Biden administration is sending 1,500 active-duty military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border. The troops will support U.S. Customs and Border Protection efforts on the border for about 90 days.
The Biden administration is sending 1,500 active-duty military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border, as it expects an increase in migrant arrivals after May 11 when coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42 ends.
The troops will support U.S. Customs and Border Protection efforts on the border for about 90 days, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement this week.
Why is this happening now?
For more than two years, the Biden administration kept in place at the U.S. southern border a Trump administration order using a public health policy known as Title 42. The policy allowed the U.S. to quickly expel migrants to their countries of origin or Mexican border towns. Title 42 was implemented in March 2020; since then, migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times, many of them more than once.
On April 1, 2022, the administration announced the policy would end on May 23, 2022, giving U.S. officials time to prepare for what they expected to be an increase in migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. But 19 Republican-led states were against lifting Title 42 and fought to keep it in place through various lawsuits.
In January of this year, with COVID-related deaths and cases declining, the administration announced that a Public Health Emergency declared in March 2020 would end on May 11, ending with it several extraordinary measures including the rationale for keeping Title 42 in place.
To keep the existing policy in place, immigration advocates said, the Biden administration would need to issue a new Title 42 order or reverse its decision to lift the Public Health Emergency on May 11.
U.S. immigration officials estimate that starting in May, migrant arrivals along the U.S.-Mexico border could increase to 10,000 to 13,000 a day from the current 5,000 to 8,000.
Is sending troops to the border something new?
No. Former President Donald Trump deployed active-duty troops to the border in October 2018 to support U.S. Border Patrol personnel and started to withdraw them at the end 2018.
What will the troops do? Will they detain migrants?
No. Troops will do “ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support. … Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities. This deployment to the border is consistent with other forms of military support to DHS over many years,” Ryder said in his statement Tuesday.
