Pentagon adds eight more months to troop mission at US-Mexico border
- The US military’s role at the border has been widely debated, in part because it began days before the November midterm elections and was attacked by critics as a political ploy
The Pentagon will extend its mission along the southern border for eight months, the department said Monday, marking a significant lengthening of US President Donald Trump’s involvement of the military in his effort to curb migration from Latin America.
Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan approved a request to provide the Department of Homeland Security with help though September 30, 2019, the Pentagon said in a statement. Previously, the deployment of active duty forces along the border, which Trump ordered before the November midterm elections, was due to end January 31.
The Pentagon “is transitioning its support at the southwestern border from hardening ports of entry to mobile surveillance and detection, as well as concertina wire emplacement between ports of entry,” the statement said.
US troops will also provide aviation support, the statement added.
It was not immediately clear how many additional troops the extended mission might require.
