Sending the first half of the 4,000 National Guard troops pledged by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for southern border security will cost about $182 million, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The money will come from the Guard’s training funds, and so far, there are no concerns that spending the money could cause readiness problems with the force, said Dana White, the chief Pentagon spokesperson.
“Right now, that is not a concern. Again, these are funds that are for training, and so, we’ll use them, but at this time there are no concerns,” she said.
President Trump announced last month that he would send Guard troops to secure the border from immigrants and drug trafficking after Congress did not provide major funding for his proposed Mexico border wall.
“We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things, I spoke with Mattis, we’re going to do some things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” Trump said.
Mattis agreed to send up to 4,000 to the southern border through the end of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to provide Customs and Border Protection agents non-law enforcement assistance.
