Pentagon keeping troops at southern border through September

WASHINGTON – The US will keep troops at its border with Mexico through at least the end of this month as authorities grapple with the ongoing migration crisis, the Pentagon confirmed Friday.

Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quietly extended the deployments of up to 400 military personnel working to supplement US Customs and Border Protection’s efforts as migrants enter America at an alarming rate.

The extension was first reported by NBC News.

Austin initially sent 1,500 troops to the border for a 90-day deployment in early May ahead of the expiration of the pandemic-era health policy known as Title 42, which allowed CBP agents to turn away migrants quickly for health-related reasons.

Three months later, roughly 1,100 of those forces are headed home, but the remaining 400 will stay through Sept. 30 — with a further extension possible after that.

Troops at the border are not to engage directly with migrants.

Instead, they have been helping with the processing and paperwork that would otherwise bog down CBP agents who are needed in the field.

As of July 31, CBP had reported more than 1.97 million encounters with migrants attempting to illegally enter the US, compared to the nearly 1.95 million stopped at this point in fiscal year 2022.

In total, CBP reported more than 2.37 million encounters in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2022, a tally that did not include migrants who managed to slip past agents.