A little boy cries while being led through a makeshift camp where a caravan of thousands of Central Americans hoping to reach the U.S. border takes a rest day in Juchitan, Mexico, on Oct. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Two Canadians are among the 200 unregulated militia members that American authorities say are gathering near the border with Mexico to help stop caravans of migrants trying to make their way into the U.S. from Central America.

The leader of one of the militias, the Texas Minutemen, confirmed Monday that two Canadians joined his group to offer their expertise with radio communications, as the Texans prepare for what they call an “invasion” sometime in the next two or three weeks.

Texas Minutemen president Shannon McGauley answered a phone call from Ottawa, and confirmed that the two Canadians were on the ground near the border between the U.S. and Mexico with the Texan militia unit.

McGauley did not appear certain where the Canadians were from, but said they were contributing communications expertise to the Texan operation.

“I guess Toronto,” McGauley said. “They’re ham-radio operators, so they came down to help with the communications.”

McGauley said the Canadians, mentioned briefly in a Washington Post story last weekend, were unavailable for an interview.

“They don’t want to be on the grid,” McGauley said. “They’ve got real prestigious jobs, so they don’t want to do any type of interviews.”

The U.S. Army, Marines, and National Guard are deploying several thousand troops to back up the United States Border Patrol as the migrant caravans make their way to the U.S. border.

McGauley said he has spoken with the Canadians, who are now with a separate cluster of Texas Minutemen at another location.

“I’m down in the valley,” he said in reference to the Rio Grande river and its valley, which mark the border between Texas and Mexico from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico.

McGauley said he believes the two volunteers from the northern side of the 49th parallel are the only two Canadians with the Texans.

“They didn’t bring anybody else with them, so I guess it’s just the two,” he said.

Asked if he knew why the Canadians came, McGauley replied: “They just said they believe in America. I guess they just wanted to come and help out with our eyes.

“We’ve got all kind of nationalities, all kinds of backgrounds that are helping us,” he added.

McGauley dismissed concerns expressed even by the U.S. military about the arrival of militia members, who side with U.S. President Donald Trump’s dire predictions of what might happen, should the caravans make it into the United States.

“We’ve been doing this since 2009 and there hasn’t been an incident,” McGauley said, suggesting his militia, at least, is not planning a confrontation, despite reports that some militia members have firearms.

The Texas Minuteman Facebook page shows one of its principals to be a former U.S. service member who was also associated with the National Rifle Association.

“We are experts at using our eyes, so if you see anything not normal, then you notify the authorities; they start their investigation and you go from there,” said the bail bondsman from Boyd, Texas, who has a business partnership called McGauley & McGauley Investigations.

Asked if the Texas Minutemen plan only to monitor and notify, should they see illegal border crossers, McCauley replied: “Correct.”