President Joe Biden’s Defense of Department is pulling active duty troops from the Southern border despite a historic illegal migrant surge.
A DOD representative has confirmed that it will withdraw 1,100 active-duty troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year— approved by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
In May, the Department of Homeland Security authorized 1,500 active-duty troops to deploy to the Southern border for a 90-day mission as the government prepared for an expected surge in illegal alien crossings as pandemic-related asylum restrictions ended.
Initially, illegal border crossings dropped, and apprehensions tracked upwards in July— causing up to 400 soldiers to have their mission extended until the end of August.
“On July 19, the secretary authorized up to 400 active-duty troops to remain at the [southwest border] in support of DHS/[Customs and Border Protection] until Aug.31. It is my understanding that this authorization came as the result of a request from DHS/CBP for an extension,” a DOD representative told the Daily Caller News Foundation on condition of anonymity.
At first Biden said that the troops were sent to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents but not engage in front-line work. Instead, the president said the soldiers would help with ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry and warehouse support, and work to “free up the border agents that need to be on the border.”
After the U.S. allowed more migrants in through expanded entry programs such as CBP One, illegal migrant encounters spiked to 130,000 in July. In defense, the Biden Administration claimed encounters remained lower than under Title 42.
As the Biden border crisis continues to create chaos in the U.S., Republican states have sent the National Guard to the Texas border, accusing Biden of “failing to repel illegals” in their public announcements.
The deployment of the National Guard is an effort to fill capability gaps, including the ability to detect and monitor from the ground, data entry, and warehouse support.