WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump
said on Thursday he was "bringing out the military" to protect
the U.S. border as a caravan of Central American migrants
continued to trek through Mexico to the United States.
"I am bringing out the military for this National Emergency.
They will be stopped!" Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.
White House and Pentagon officials did not immediately
respond to requests for comment about the military deployment or
the national emergency.
On Monday, Trump said he had alerted "Border Patrol and
Military" that the migrant caravan was a national emergency. But
a Pentagon spokesman said at the time that the defense
department had not been asked to provide additional support.
Trump promised before the 2016 presidential election to
build a wall along the southern border between U.S. and Mexico,
but funding for his signature campaign promise has been slow to
materialise.
In April, frustrated by lack of progress on the wall, Trump
ordered the National Guard to help secure the border in four
southwestern states.
There are currently 2 100 National Guard
troops along the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and
California.