U.S. Military Border Troop Deployment Rises Again, to Nearly 8,000 by Nancy A. Youssef – Wall Street Journal
Nearly 8,000 U.S. troops will be sent to three border states in anticipation of a caravan of migrants and would-be asylum seekers now traveling through Mexico, a U.S. official said, marking another increase in the planned deployment.
By Election Day morning, more than 5,000 troops would be deployed in the three states, the U.S. military said Monday. Of those, roughly 2,700 are in Texas, 1,200 in Arizona and another 1,100 are in California, the Pentagon said.
Another 2,000-plus troops will be in place within days, a U.S. official said, bringing the final tally closer to 8,000. Last week, the Pentagon said the number of troops had increased to more than 7,000, up from an earlier estimate of 5,200 days earlier.
Last month, when the Trump administration first discussed deploying troops the border, officials suggested the figure would be around 800. The recent series of increases are based on requests from the Department of Homeland Security as the agency’s plans have evolved, the Pentagon said…