Next week, the Biden administration plans to deploy 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.- Mexico border in anticipation of a potential surge in migrants following the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions.
The military personnel will assist with administrative tasks such as data entry and warehouse support, freeing up U.S. Customs and Border Protection to focus on fieldwork.
The White House stated that these troops will not engage in law enforcement activities or interact with migrants in U.S – Mexico border.
Their deployment will last for 90 days, and they will be drawn from the Army and Marine Corps. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin intends to replace them with National Guard or Reserve troops during this period. The border already has 2,500 National Guard members stationed there.
COVID-19 Restrictions
The COVID-19 restrictions have allowed U.S. officials to turn away tens of thousands of migrants crossing the southern border, but those restrictions will lift May 11, and border officials are bracing for a surge.
Even amid the restrictions, the administration has seen record numbers of people crossing the border, and President Joe Biden has responded by cracking down on those who cross illegally and by creating new pathways meant to offer alternatives to a dangerous and often deadly journey.
For Biden, who announced his Democratic reelection campaign a week ago, the decision signals his administration is taking seriously an effort to tamp down the number of illegal crossings, a potent source of Republican attacks, and sends a message to potential border crossers not to attempt the journey.
But it also draws potentially unwelcome comparisons to Biden’s Republican predecessor, whose policies Biden frequently criticized. Congress, meanwhile, has refused to take any substantial immigration-related actions.
Then-President Donald Trump deployed active-duty troops to the border to assist border patrol personnel in processing large migrant caravans, on top of National Guard forces that were already working in that capacity.