(USNewsMag.com) – With Title 42 set to end May 11 and migrant surge expected, the Biden administration is deploying 1,500 active-duty troops for 90 days to the southern border.
There are currently about 2,500 National Guard troops on the southern border, which have been there since Oct. 1, 2022, and will remain through September 2023. The additional troops were requested by the Department of Homeland Security and then approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The additional troops will help free up Customs and Border Protection officials to conduct their field work, according to the White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
According to Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the service members will not be tasked with any law enforcement duties such as processing or detaining migrants. Military members are prevented from doing civilian law enforcement by a federal law from 1878.
The service members will be doing tasks such as assisting with transportation, narcotics detection, warehouse support, data entry and administrative duties.
First enacted in March 2020, the public health restriction that allows migrants to be expelled known as Title 42 is set to end May 11. After Title 42 ends Customs and Border Protection officials are preparing for 10,000 migrants to cross the border daily. Currently, about 7,000 migrants cross daily.
The Biden administration has also enacted other efforts to manage the expected surge in migrants such as swiftly screening migrants who are seeking asylum at the border, deporting those not qualified quickly, as well as penalizing those who cross the border illegally.
Centers for people fleeing violence and poverty will be opened outside the United States. The first are set to open in Colombia and Guatemala. At these centers, people can apply to legally fly into as well as settle in the United States, Canada or Spain.
Since 2006, the military has been sent to help at the border many times, under Democratic and Republican administrations.
Copyright 2023, USNewsMag.com
