Additionally, officials were monitoring another group of about 3,000 people that had gathered at a border crossing between Guatemala and Mexico. McAleenan described the situation along the US-Mexico frontier as a "border security and humanitarian crisis," and said border agents over the past three weeks had apprehended about 1,900 people per day illegally crossing. The massive deployment marks a sharp increase from initial estimates last week, when US officials said about 800 active-duty troops would head south. It means that within days, the US military will have more than three times as many troops along the southern border as it does fighting the Islamic State group in Syria. In April, Trump ordered up to 4,000 National Guardsmen to head to the border as a different migrant caravan wound its way north.

Source: Bangkok Post October 29, 2018 23:37 UTC