The Trump administration wants to send 1,000 more troops to the US-Mexico border “to provide supplemental holding and port of entry enforcement support” to Border Patrol agents, officials said Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security made the request last week and is waiting to get approval from the Pentagon, according to an agency spokesperson.

DHS officials are looking to send troops from the Texas National Guard.

“Governor Abbott has consented to the use of the National Guard to support CBP,” said the DoD spokesperson in a statement.

“Supplemental holding support is requested for CBP holding facilities located at Donna and Tornillo, Texas,” the statement added. “These holding facilities house single adult migrants who have illegally entered the United States, been processed by CBP, and are awaiting transfer to Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. These holding facilities will be owned, operated, and managed by CBP.”

The additional 1,000 National Guard members would be a major boost to President Trump’s policing of the US southern border. There were already 6,000 troops in the region as of April — 2,100 of whom were members of the Guard, The Hill reports.

Trump has gotten criticized recently over the conditions at federal detention centers along the border, with Democratic lawmakers calling them terrible and “disgusting.”

The president has denied the accusations.

Vice President Mike Pence is planning to travel to the border town of McAllen, Texas, with a bipartisan delegation later this week.