We knew this was happening but it’s still a shock.
In the past four months, the Pentagon has sent thousands of active-duty combat troops and armored Stryker combat vehicles to the southwestern border to confront what President Trump declared on his first day in office was an “invasion” of migrants, drug cartels and smugglers.
That’s not all. The military has also dispatched U-2 spy planes, surveillance drones, helicopters and even two Navy warships to surveil the borders and coasts round the clock.
The buildup of forces underscores how Mr. Trump is breaking with his predecessors’ practice of mostly limiting deployments along the U.S.-Mexico border to small numbers of active-duty soldiers and reservists. About 2,500 active-duty troops were on the border at the end of the Biden administration. Now there are about 8,600.
In a recent visit with troops in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the border was fairly calm. Crossings, which decreased sharply in the waning months of the Biden administration, have plummeted even further since the Trump administration declared its goal to obtain “100 percent” operational control of the boundary with Mexico. In April, about 8,000 people were arrested after crossing the border illegally, down from about 128,000 people a year earlier, according to U.S. government statistics.
Even so, there is no end in sight for the military mission on the border, which the Pentagon says has cost $525 million so far.
The deployments continue to grow in size, scope and sophistication even as the debate over the benefits and drawbacks rages on, and the military expands its territorial authorities to help interdict migrants.
I just heard Times Pentagon Reporter Helene Cooper, one of the authors of that piece, say on MSNBC that she’d spoken to a General who called this operation the “generational conflict of our time” comparing it to WWII. That’s the mindset. It was likely this guy:
“This is their mission for their generation, and they’re embracing it,” said Maj. Gen. Scott M. Naumann, the head of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, who moved his headquarters staff to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in February to oversee what the military calls Joint Task Force-Southern Border.
Trump just ordered 20,000 more troops to the border. Don’t be surprised if they invade. They’ve been talking about it for some time.
On the other hand, it may only be a matter of time before they turn those troops around to patrol the streets of America. The “generational conflict of our time” may very well be waged against Americans.