Efforts continue to block migrants at border

Associated Press

CALEXICO, Calif.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday that “everything is on the table” as the administration considered new measures to stifle immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and send a message that a slow-moving migrant caravan bound for the United States will not be welcome.

Nielsen’s trip to the border came after the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, expected to total at least 800 and possibly more than 1,000.

And the White House is looking at new border security measures, including one plan that would use the same mechanism as Trump’s travel ban to block migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S, according to two people familiar with the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the idea, which they stressed was still in the early planning stages and had yet to be decided.

New details also began to emerge Friday about the military deployment on the border.

A Defense Department official said the mission is authorized from Oct. 30 to Dec. 15 and will operate in border areas of California, Arizona and Texas.

The official said the troops will not be involved in detaining migrants.

In a brief written statement the Pentagon gave several examples of assistance they would provide. These include barricades and fencing; helicopters and airplanes to move Border Patrol personnel, and medical teams to triage and treat patients and prepare them for commercial transport.