by Dr. Eowyn
Yesterday evening, a Defense Department official told Fox News that:
- The first 100 active-duty troops of Operation Faithful Patriot had arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border at a port of entry in McAllen, Texas to provide support for Border Patrol agents.
- There are about 2,600 troops now at staging bases, largely in Texas.
- Several thousand more troops are expected to flow in through the weekend and move into California and Arizona.
The Pentagon said more than 7,000 active-duty troops are being sent to the southern border, with more possible. President Trump said the number could reach 15,000, which is the equivalent of nearly an entire military division. A divisional unit in the U.S. Army typically consists of 17,000 to 21,000 soldiers.
There are about 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. armed forces.
And as Air Force Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, who as head of U.S. Northern Command is leading Operation Faithful Patriot, said in a press conference on October 29, the troops that are deployed to the border will be armed.
Also yesterday, in a speech on immigration, President Trump, as Commander In Chief, gave the military mobilizing at the border permission to use lethal force. He said that if “migrants” try to throw rocks at soldiers, they should act as though the rocks are “rifles”.
Trump also said he will sign an executive order sometime next week which would ban migrants from claiming asylum if they cross the border illegally. “Migrants” claiming political asylum would not be let into the U.S., but would be held in vast tent cities.
Operation Faithful Patriot is set to last only 45 days.
Below is a video of hundreds of military vehicles being transported to the border (h/t Kal ©):
H/t CSM