A National Guard troop watches over Rio Grande River on the border in Roma, Texas on April 10. | John Mone, File/AP Photo White House Trump says he’ll send 10,000-15,000 troops to border

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would deploy a total of 10,000 to 15,000 U.S. troops to the southern border in preparation for a large group of Central American migrants heading toward the United States.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the additional troops would supplement the military, border patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents already at the border, as well as the 5,200 members of the military he authorized earlier in the week.


“We have about 5,000 — we‘ll do up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel, on top of border patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border.“

“Nobody’s coming in,” he said of the migrants.

Trump characterized the migrants on Monday as an invading force, announcing he would send the military to the border to stop them from entering. But the figure of 10,000 to 15,000 troops he presented on Wednesday doubled or tripled the number already approved.

U.S Northern Command — which works with others on homeland security, civil support and security cooperation — said in a news release published shortly after Trump spoke to reporters that the Department of Homeland Security had asked the Defense Department to send up to 7,000 troops to help maintain the border. The number is considerably smaller than the figures Trump offered, but the release said the number could change in the days ahead as need is reassessed.

The troops would help with everything from offering medical units to putting up physical barriers.

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The group of thousands of immigrants left from Honduras more than two weeks ago fleeing poverty and violence. Though they have been offered benefits to stay in Mexico, thousands of the migrants have pushed on toward the U.S., intending to apply for legal asylum here

Trump has repeatedly tweeted at the “caravan” to go home and pledged that those in it would not be admitted into the country. He has also claimed, without offering evidence, that the group is teeming with gang members.

The president has used immigration as a key issue in his campaign, and has been ramping up rhetoric on the topic in his endorsements of Republican candidates ahead of next week’s midterm elections.

He also declared this week that he would eliminate birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, though most constitutional scholars agree that the right is enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Trump also told reporters at the White House that he thought he could change the provision by executive order or an act of Congress, which he would prefer because it would be “permanent.”

