More than 3,000 active duty troops are headed to the U.S. southern border. They will join the 2,300 already there.
Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan asked the Department of Homeland Security for more assistance earlier this month. The troops will be working in surveillance and detection.
President Trump confirmed the increase in troops on twitter: “More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country. We have stopped the previous Caravans, and we will stop these also. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!”
Latest Group of Central American Migrants Proceed with Northern Trek
Thousands of U.S.-bound Central American migrants resumed their northward journey on Jan. 31, Mexico City officials said, part of a growing group of would-be asylum seekers.Around 2,400 migrants left a city shelter to begin the journey from the Mexican capital early Thursday morning, the latest caravan to embark upon the risky path to the U.S.-Mexican border despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s determination to prevent them from entering.
Since last October, thousands of mostly Central American migrants have sought to cross into the United States.
A construction builder from El Salvador, who left his wife and 3 children back home, said: “We don’t really know (where migrants are heading). We were told (by organizers) we'd be helped half-way through the trip. At the moment, we’re being told (by caravan organisers) we’re going to Queretaro but we don’t really know. It may be Queretaro or Piedras Negras.”
Trump: Fentanyl is Topic of Discussion with China
President Donald Trump, preparing to meet a Chinese trade delegation on Thursday, Jan. 31, said the United States won’t reach any final trade agreement with China until he sits down again with President Xi Jinping.“I think that probably the final deal will be made. If it’s made, it will be made between myself and President Xi. But we’re certainly talking about theft, we’re talking about every aspect of trade with a country and we’re talking about Fentanyl too.
“As you know, most of the Fentanyl, which is killing 80,000 Americans a year ... it comes through China and in China, it was not criminalized and they’ve agreed to criminalize Fentanyl.”
Trump tweeted that the meetings are “going well with good intent and spirit on both sides.”
Trump has set a March 2 deadline for increasing tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
And during the Jan. 31 meeting between U.S. President Trump and China’s vice premier Liu He, a letter from China’s President Xi was read to Trump, saying that Xi hopes both sides will be able to meet each other halfway to reach a trade agreement before a March 1 deadline.
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