Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the Pentagon has no new plans for the 5,900 troops along the U.S.-Mexico border amid reports of a longer Christmas deployment.
The Pentagon does remain in daily contact with the Department of Homeland Security, which could choose to request an extension beyond Dec. 15, when the mission is slated to end.
Rotating in new troops and extending the military deployment through the holidays is being discussed within the administration, according to NBC News and multiple other reports.
“We are closing out the [DHS] requests for assistance by meeting the requests. In some cases, those requests have been modified, either reduced or removed altogether, or broadened, and we work daily on it,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday. “Right now, we have no new requests, although we are discussing every day the situation. So I can’t forecast what that will be.”
The ongoing discussions could keep service members at locations in Texas, Arizona, and California into 2019. The Pentagon has maintained the mission, estimated to cost $72 million so far, provides useful training. But it has drawn fire from Democrats on Capitol Hill who call it a wasteful political stunt by President Trump.
The active-duty troops were ordered to the border by Trump in the run-up to the midterm elections as he warned about a migrant “invasion.” They provide support to border agents and for other non-law-enforcement tasks, such as stringing razor wire.
The White House and Mattis recently authorized the military to use lethal force if necessary as caravans of thousands of Central American migrants begin to arrive at the border.
Last weekend, border agents fired tear gas at about 300 of those migrants who rushed the border barrier in Tijuana.
