The Biden administration will send 1,500 troops for the U.S.-Mexico border as early as May 10 amid an expected migrant surge following the end of pandemic-era restrictions, the White House and the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said Tuesday that the military will send active-duty Marines and Army soldiers to the border for 90 days to augment Customs and Border Patrol efforts, where they will fill critical gaps in efforts like ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry and warehouse support until the agency can address those needs with contracted support. The troops will not conduct law enforcement work or interact with immigrants and migrants.
The active-duty troops could eventually be returned back to their home bases and supplemented with reserve military personnel or contractors, Ryder added.
The request for troops was made by the Department of Homeland Security, which said in a statement there are already 2,500 military personnel on the Southwest border and that the Department of Defense has provided assistance to border control efforts every year since 2006. Ryder confirmed that number, noting they were National Guard forces who assist with "detection and monitoring, and aviation support."
Title 42, the policy that expelled migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, was implemented during the Trump administration. After a series of legal battles — Republicans hoped to keep the policy in place while the Biden administration fought to end it — it is set to expire May 11, which is expected to bring a surge of migrants to the border. According to Ryder, the military personnel could arrive as soon as one day before the policy's expiration date.
"DOD personnel have been supporting CBP at the border for almost two decades now, so this is a common practice," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing Tuesday.
"These personnel will be performing administrative tasks, like data entry and warehouse support," she added. "They will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants or migrants. This will free up border patrol agents to perform their critical law enforcement duties."
Jean-Pierre also called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to provide more resources to border officials and reiterated that it's "part of the president's goal" that migrants at the border are treated humanely.
The Biden administration says it has been preparing for the end of Title 42 for more than a year, including by hiring 300 additional border patrol agents, helping countries in the region step up security to counter smuggling in the first 60 days and fighting back against disinformation, namely smugglers falsely telling people the U.S.-Mexico border is open.
Even amid the restrictions, the administration has seen record numbers of people crossing the border, and President Joe Biden has responded by cracking down on those who cross illegally and by creating new pathways meant to offer alternatives to a dangerous and often deadly journey.
Biden’s actions follow similar moves by then-President Donald Trump, who deployed active duty troops to the border to assist border patrol personnel in processing large migrant caravans, on top of National Guard forces that were already working in that capacity..
Many Democrats at the time decried the decision by Trump. In the hours after the decision was announced, a handful of Democrats expressed caution, but didn't say they would object to the Biden administration's decision.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who chairs the Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, told Politico he wouldn't oppose the move and said more was needed to be done to give DHS and CBP the tools they need to secure the border.
In interviews with HuffPost, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said that his "understanding is their role is only for logistical support," adding: "I certainly hope it stays that way, and I’ve communicated that to them."
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., told the outlet that he is "against militarizing the border."
The decision signals Biden's administration is taking seriously an effort to tamp down the number of illegal crossings, a source of Republican attacks, and sends a message to potential border crossers not to attempt the journey. But it also draws potentially unwelcome comparisons to his Republican predecessor, whose policies Biden frequently criticized. Congress, meanwhile, has refused to take any substantial immigration-related actions.
The Biden administration last week announced a series of steps it is taking to prepare for the end of the Title 42 policy, including establishing regional processing centers in other countries.
Administration officials said they are still working on the exact number of centers that will be opened but said locations in Colombia and Guatemala will be rolled out “shortly.” Canada and Spain will also accept referrals from the centers, official said.
The plan is to process 5,000 or 6,000 applicants per month initially and scale up operations over time, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
“These centers will take a hugely important step to prevent people from making the dangerous journey to the border by providing a much safer legal option to migrate that they can pursue in and from their own countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “It's a new and innovative approach that does right by people who want to migrate and that enhances security and stability in the region.”
Officials said people seeking entry into the U.S. will be able to make virtual appointments through a mobile app. If the applicants are deemed eligible, a specialist will refer them to the refugee resettlement program or other legal pathways into the country, officials said.
The Homeland Security Department, meanwhile, announced an expansion of the family reunification program to cover migrants from Colombia, El Salvado, Guatemala and Honduras.
While there will be processing centers elsewhere, officials said asylum seekers from Central America, South America and Caribbean countries will be a priority.
“Let me be clear: Our border is not open and will not be open after May 11,” Mayorkas said last week.
Officials said there will be “significant consequences” for those who do not use legal pathways, including an expansion of expedited removal processing, a five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecutions for repeated attempts to enter the country unlawfully.
Mayorkas added that migrants who arrive at the border and do not have a legal basis to be in the country “will have made the journey, often having suffered horrific trauma and having paid their life savings to the smugglers, only to be quickly removed.”
He said families also would be placed in proceedings for swift expulsion. He, however, insisted, “We have no plan to detain families,” adding agencies would employ alternatives such as GPS monitoring and enhanced supervision while families waited.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is working to expand legal pathways for migration, including by soon increasing the number of appointment slots through the CBP One app.
“For too many people in too many places, these pathways feel far from reach,” Blinken said. “So we're working to create more opportunities and to make them more accessible.”
Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.