Trump: 15,000 Troops Could Be Sent to Border

President Donald Trump said the United States could send as many as 15,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of a caravan of migrants in Mexico who are heading north.

The president made the statement Oct. 31, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported.

“They are not coming in our country,” Trump told reporters on Oct. 31, before heading to a rally in Florida.

“Our military is out. We have about five thousand, eight,” Trump told reporters of the troops. “We'll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15 thousand military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE, and everybody else on the border. Nobody’s coming in.”

Earlier in the week, reports said that 5,200 troops could be sent to the border.

“Our military is being mobilized at the Southern Border. Many more troops coming. We will NOT let these Caravans, which are also made up of some very bad thugs and gang members, into the U.S. Our Border is sacred, must come in legally. TURN AROUND!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

Trump also stated the caravan has “very tough fighters” and they “fought back hard and viciously against Mexico at” the Guatemala-Mexico border before they broke through.

“Mexican soldiers hurt, were unable, or unwilling to stop caravan. Should stop them before they reach our border, but won’t!” he added.

In another report, an official said the Pentagon identified about 7,000 American troops that will be deployed to the border.

“The total number of troops deployed will change each day as military forces flow into the operating area, but initial estimates indicate the Department of Defense has identified approximately 7,000 troops to support if required, Operation Faithful Patriot,” the official, who was not named, told Reuters.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended his agency’s actions on Oct. 31, after a reporter asked him if the deployment is part of a political stunt before the midterm elections.

“We don’t do stunts in this department. Thank you,” Mattis said, Fox News reported. The deployment is to provide “practical support” to the Department of Homeland Security, and it was authorized after a request from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In El Salvador, a new migrant caravan of about 2,000 people started walking north from San Salvador, the capital, on Oct. 31. The migrants set off in two groups, including men and women pushing strollers as well as others with children, The Epoch Times reported.

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Birthright Citizenship

Trump recently said that the issue of whether children born to illegal immigrants or other foreigners in the United States should be automatically granted citizenship will head to the Supreme Court.

On Oct. 31, Trump said: “So-called Birthright Citizenship, which costs our Country billions of dollars and is very unfair to our citizens, will be ended one way or the other.”

“It is not covered by the 14th Amendment because of the words ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Many legal scholars agree Harry Reid was right in 1993, before he and the Democrats went insane and started with the Open Borders (which brings massive Crime) ‘stuff.’ Don’t forget the nasty term Anchor Babies. I will keep our Country safe. This case will be settled by the United States Supreme Court!” he added.