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The announcement nearly triples the number of troops that Trump had said would be deployed to the border. Controlling illegal migration has become a key campaigning issue used by the President ahead of the midterm elections as trump rallies to help Republicans in next week's vote. He said: “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 is coming in.

“We’re not allowing people to come in.” Currently, the caravan is still thousands of miles away from the border and would take weeks to even reach the US. However, Trump dismissed these assertions. He said: “Oh, they’ll be here fast. They’re trying to get up any way they can.

Donald Trump wants to send 15,000 troops to US border

Donald Trump has long been a supporter of border security

We’re going to be prepared. They’re not coming into our country Donald Trump

“They’re trying to get up by train. They’re trying to get up by truck and by bus. “We’re going to be prepared. They’re not coming into our country.” Prior to the President’s announcement, Reuters quoted Secretary of Defence James Mattis rejecting criticism of the troops' deployment. He said: “The support that we provide to the secretary for homeland security is practical support based on the request from the commissioner of customs and border police, so we don’t do stunts in this department.”

If Trump sends 15,000 troops to the border, it would be more than in Iraq and Syria combined