The move will lead to a rise in the number of active US forces providing support for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, to approximately 4,350, Reuters reported.
"The Department of Defense will deploy approximately 3,750 additional U.S. forces to provide the additional support to CBP at the southwest border… This will raise the total Active Duty forces supporting CBP at the border to approximately 4,350," the Pentagon's press service said.
Besides that, a mobile surveillance capability will be positioned at the border and around 150 miles (241 kilometers) of concertina wire will be pulled between the ports of entry before the end of September.
READ MORE: Washington Prepares For New Border Showdown as Politicians Neglect US Citizens
On January 31, US President Donald Trump announced in a tweet the upcoming deployment of US forces to Mexican border "to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals."
More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country. We have stopped the previous Caravans, and we will stop these also. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
In late January 2019, Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan announced that the Pentagon has been preparing to send "several thousand" additional troops to the Mexico-US border, answering a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) call for assistance in monitoring and "laying down more concertina wire".
READ MORE: Dems, GOP Unlikely to Avert Another US Govt Shutdown — Trump
Earlier, the undersecretary of defense for policy, John Rood, told Congress that US officials are tracking three migrant caravans from Central America allegedly making their way toward the US-Mexican border, the largest of which is said to have over 12,000 would-be immigrants.
The request for funding for additional security and the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border has been a sticking point in negotiations between Trump and the Democrats, and led to a 35-day partial government shutdown.
READ MORE: Pentagon Preparing to Send More Troops to Border — Defence Secretary
On 25 January, Trump signed a temporary three-week budget to end the shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from the Congress for a wall along the southern border. Trump is reportedly expected to continue talks with the Democrats on the full-fledged budget within next three weeks.
