Trump Regime Now Says It Will Deploy 5,000 Troops to Southern Border

[Content Note: Nativism; border militarization.]

Last week, the Trump Regime announced its plan to deploy 800 troops to the southern border in anticipation of the arrival of a caravan of migrants fleeing violence in Central America.

Now that number has suddenly jumped from 800 to 5,000.

Nancy A. Youssef and Alicia A. Caldwell at the Wall Street Journal report:

The new figure is a major increase from initial estimates of 800 troops and would represent a military force equal to about one-third the number of customs officials currently working at the border. The military sent about 2,000 National Guard troops to the area earlier this year.

The U.S. and federal law-enforcement officials said troops are likely to be deployed to ports of entry, at least in initial phases of the U.S. military mission, which the Pentagon has named Operation Faithful Patriot.

U.S. troops later expect to support border officials by doing things like building tents, providing medical support, and helping staff command and control centers.

Helping build tents sounds fairly innocuous, except for the fact that those "tents" are being used to detain children in the desert.

And let us be clear about the significance of this military build-up along the border: "The additional troops would mean that the number of U.S. forces deployed at the border would be greater than those currently in Syria and Iraq, and roughly half of those deployed in Afghanistan."

Let us also speak frankly about that mission name — Operation Faithful Patriot. That's some gross fascistic shit. Not only are they not even trying to hide the authoritarian nationalism any longer; they're gleefully broadcasting it.