The Department of Homeland Security has requested 1,000 additional National Guard troops in Texas “to provide supplemental holding and port of entry enforcement support” to Customs and Border Protection.
The supplemental troops will help with holding and border enforcement support.
“DHS requests authorisation for 1,000 Texas National Guard members … to provide supplemental holding and Port of Entry (POE) enforcement support to CBP within the State of Texas,” the statement from the Defense Department said.
“Supplemental holding support is requested for CBP holding facilities located at Donna and Tornillo, Texas,” the Defense Department said in a statement. “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.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already granted his approval for the CBP to the use of the National Guard for support.
The holding facilities at the border were not designed for the massive flow of illegal migrants who attempt to breach the borders on a daily basis, leaving the CBP spread thin.
USA Today noted that apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley have more than doubled in the past year, with 223,263 apprehensions from October through May, compared to 99,835 during the same period a year earlier.
“CBP facilities are designed for short stays, before adults are passed along to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and children move to Health and Human Services facilities. But because ICE and HHS facilities are also overcrowded, CBP is unable to move its detainees,” USA Today’s report explained.
According to reports, there are already 6,000 troops in the region assisting CBP as of April — with the National Guard making up approximately 2,100 of them.
The Defense Department announced the request, made last Wednesday, in a statement on Monday. The Pentagon has not yet approved their request, according to a report from CNN.
Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit the border with a bipartisan delegation of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee later this week.
