Troops at U.S.-Mexican border to start coming home

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Politico

The Pentagon is set to begin a drawdown of its 5,800 troops from the Southwest border as early as this week, the Army commander overseeing the mission told POLITICO today — even as the approaching caravan of refugees prompted U.S. customs officers to close a port of entry near Tijuana, Mexico.

All the active-duty troops that President Donald Trump ordered sent to the border before the midterm elections should be home by Christmas, said Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, who is running the mission from San Antonio, Texas.

He said the troop deployment should start falling rapidly as engineer and logistics troops — some the largest parts of the deployment — wind down their mission of building base camps and fortifying ports of entry for the Border Patrol.

"Our end date right now is 15 December, and I've got no indications from anybody that we'll go beyond that," said Buchanan, who leads the ground component of U.S. Northern Command.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/19/troops-us-mexico-border-come-home-1005510

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Buchanan also confirmed previous reports that the military rejected a request from the Department of Homeland Security for an armed force to back up Border Patrol agents in the event of a violent confrontation.

"That is a law enforcement task, and the secretary of defense does not have the authority to approve that inside the homeland," Buchanan said.

[left-of-center2012]

1. Has the 'invasion' ended?

Or the 2016 election?

[CincyDem]

2. Whew - good that that risk of invasion is over.

I haven't been able to sleep a wink wondering if we didn't hold them off at the Rio Grande...could the mighty Ohio become the next Maginot Line !!!

[WheelWalker]

3. The Midterm Surge.

[mpcamb]

11. I hope somebody is tallying the cost on this waste of time and resources.

All for a few votes from the truly uninformed who still desperately want to believe him.

[getagrip_already]

4. bs - trump will keep them there.....

there is an election next tuesday. If he were going to withdraw them, they would be home now.

Once he gets into rally mode, he will double down and send more.

[brooklynite]

5. "A majority of Republicans (54%) see the caravan as a major threat"

Link to tweet

[C_U_L8R]

6. But what about the wounded?

I can't imagine the PTSD from those nasty bone spurs.

[DesertRat]

7. I'm glad to hear it.

What a waste of resources having them there.

[Roy Rolling]

8. Victory!

Bring our troops home! Maybe a parade to commemorate the most idiotic decision by a civilian commander-in-chief ever?

[snort]

9. Bring the Props home!

[Botany]

10. If Trump really wanted to do something w/them that is useful he could send them to California ...

.... because they have lots of needs there.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. So if you don't want people to legally seek asylum you close ports of entry.

I hate IQ45.

[lilactime]

13. Mission Accomplished!

[TomSlick]

14. Home by Christmas?

How many times has the Army heard this? I hope this time it actually happens.

[Cal Tek]

15. Even more military votes lost for Trumpublicans

Heckuva job,Donnie Dimwit!

[malthaussen]

16. "Fortifying ports of entry?"

And here I thought the "threat" was from people illegally crossing.

-- Mal