Oh Good, It's Time for a 'Surge' of Troops at the Southern Border

A “surge” of up to 750 U.S. Customs and Border personnel will be relocated to “affected areas” along the southern border, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced on Monday.

As NBC News reported, Nielsen has ordered up to 750 border agents go “directly to ‘affected areas’” on the U.S.-Mexico border where the Trump administration “feels they have weaknesses.” So far, it’s unclear where these agents will be relocated from.

The news comes after Trump threatened to shut down parts, if not all, of the border, which NBC News’ reporter suggested on the air could be the administration’s rationale for the “surge” of enforcement. As of now, it’s not entirely clear how many troops remain at the border. Multiple states have recalled their National Guard members, but NPR put the total at some 6,000 total agents after the Pentagon announced it would deploy another 3,750 troops to the border in February.

Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said he’d be reassigning 750 agents from some of the busiest ports of entry and trade zones to the El Paso sector. At the time, McAleenan reported that the Border Patrol was on pace to intake about 100,000 migrants along the southwest border for the month of March.