The Defense Department plans to use U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s to deport thousands of migrants, one aspect of the military‘s plan to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Those plane, along with their aircraft and a handful of other workers, will build to El Paso, Texas, and San Diego. These personnel are in addition to, not included in, the almost 1,000 Army troops and 500 Soldiers who were deployed Wednesday to the southern borders, acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said in a statement.
The 1,500 troops heading to the boundary will add approximately 2,500 troops already it, bringing the number of military personnel to around 4,000, and there is an desire that more will be deployed there in the coming weeks and months.
“Right today, we also anticipate that there could be some additional aerial intelligence surveillance help assets that would walk over to the border to raise situational awareness, ” a senior military official told reporters.
Salesses even said in a speech that it was “just the end. ”
The almost 1,500 recently deployed troops will aid in the development of natural barriers to increase safety. The Pentagon also deployed UH-72 Lakota planes with related personnel and intelligence experts to help increased monitoring and surveillance efforts.
Trump signed a flurry of executive orders focusing on securing the border and deportations during his first hours back in the White House, including declaring a national emergency. He signed one commanding U. S. Northern Command to “seal the borders ” by “repelling forms of invasion. ”
U. S. troops are prohibited from performing law enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act. However, the president argued in the executive order that their use is justified because he has declared a border emergency to stop “forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities. ”
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The 500 Marines were on active standby for possible deployment to aid in the California wildfire containment efforts but were not called up, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency released them from their assignment last weekend.
Salesses and acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman are leading the effort for now until the Senate confirms Trump’s nominees, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem, respectively. The State Department is also involved in the process, specifically in figuring out which countries will accept the planes of migrants.
