US President Donald Trump will send 1,500 ground troops to the southern border, along with aircraft support, as part of a crackdown on “illegal aliens”.
The troops will not be involved in “law enforcement”, acccording to a senior military official. They will initially be used to build physical barriers and other “border missions”.
A senior military official tells BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that 1,000 army personnel and 500 marines will move to San Diego in California and El Paso in Texas. They will work on the placement of barriers and other “border missions”.
They will not be involved in law enforcement, the official says.
Two C-17 and two C-130 aircraft, along with helicopters, will also be sent to the US border with Mexico.
Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses says the department will provide military airlift to support deportation flights of more than 5,000 people he describes as “illegal aliens”.
Meanwhile, all refugee travel to the US is being suspended, following a separate order, one of several signed by Trump in the first few days of his presidency.
Earlier, Trump urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make a deal to end the “ridiculous” Ukraine war or face new tariffs and sanctions.
In a social media post, he said he had a good relationship with his Russian counterpart but if a deal was not made soon he would impose economic penalties.
Russian ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy responded saying, “We have to see what does the ‘deal’ mean”?