The Biden administration approved dispatching 1,500 active-duty U.S. troops to the southern border following the concerns about an influx in immigration caused by Title 42 being lifted.
The U.S. soldiers are going to be taken from various different active-duty Army units and are going to be serving in the U.S.-Mexico border for 90 days. Their tasks will predominantly be focused on administrative and transportation roles, which will allow law enforcement and Border Patrol agents to deal with the influx.
This short-term deployment is something that according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has happened before.
According to Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, the troops will be arriving at the border on May 10th and will be there to fill many important positions that handle “ground-based detection,” “data entry,” handling resources, and monitoring. He added that the military personnel at the border will not be involved in any of the law enforcement activities, but will instead be taking over other tasks which will open up the number of available agents.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have previously stated that entering the country illegally would result in removal and urges migrants to instead book appointments at points of entry so that they can have their asylum claims processed. While the Biden administration is preparing for the expiration of Title 42, CBP statistics have found that only 46 percent of migrant encounters lead to expulsion through that rule.
The administration has also put forth a new asylum rule that would stop all those who have not used the CBP One app to schedule an appointment and who have not filed in one of the other countries they have crossed, from being able to file for asylum.
