Border securityPentagon agrees to pay for National Guard deployment along border
After months of debate, the Pentagon has agreed to pay the expenses for keeping 1,200 National Guard troops stationed along the U.S.— Mexico border; the Pentagon will pay roughly $10 million each month for the Guard’s deployment through the end of this year
After months of debate, the Pentagon has agreed to pay the expenses for keeping 1,200 National Guard troops stationed along the U.S.– Mexico border.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, said, “[The Department of Defense] found the money” to extend the guard deployment past 30 September, when funding was scheduled to expire.
“They’ve been a very helpful part of our border strategy,” she added.
The Pentagon will pay roughly $10 million each month for the Guard’s deployment through the end of this year. The Guard was initially sent to the border in August 2010, and it has cost the Defense Department roughly $125 million.
The troops deployed along the border are largely there in a supportive role and are not authorized to make arrests. Their duties primarily consist of helping to man observation posts, build fences, and monitor surveillance feeds.
The National Guard was initially deployed as a part of a broader $600 million push DHS to ramp up border security which included the hiring of 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents, 250 officers at ports of entries, 250 Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents.
Napolitano said that the extension of the Guard’s deployment will help give the border agents more time to train for when they eventually take over the duties that the Guard is currently performing.
