Pentagon Refuses DHS Request For Troops At Border As Crisis Worsens

As the Biden administration braces for a massive surge in illegal immigration after lifting Title 42, a Trump-era border security policy, the Pentagon has denied a request from the Department of Homeland Security to place forces along the southern border but will provide “some” support.

“Last month, the Department of Homeland Security requested help as border officials brace for record-high numbers of encounters,” The New York Post reported. “Gen. Glen Vanherck, head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told the Senate Armed Service Committee that the department was planning to ‘provide additional capability or capacity based on the potential for additional immigration, or folks coming to the southwest border.’”

The Department of Defense confirmed the news on Wednesday, telling The New York Post that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has “authorized some DoD support.”

The support will be limited, however, and will not include “additional personnel sent for the monitoring mission” or guarding the border, according to The Post.

“On Saturday, Secretary Austin approved DoD support to DHS regarding the anticipated surge in irregular migration along the southwest border to help DHS execute its mission of providing appropriate humanitarian care to migrants in its custody,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement, adding that the support will include contracting 40 commercial buses to help transport illegal immigrants from the border to other places for processing.

“The Secretary also approved in principle providing land sites on DoD military installations for processing of migrants, and providing lodging for Federal employees supporting the mission, should it be needed,” he continued.

The news comes as the Department of Homeland Security works to prepare for a record high surge in illegal immigration due to the Biden administration’s decision to revoke Title 42. According to a DHS document obtained by ABC News, the end of Title 42 will result in as many as 18,000 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border each day.

“The DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) produced projections for post-Title 42 Southwest Border encounters describing low, medium, high, or very high encounter scenarios,” the document says. “These scenarios underpin planning assumptions that generate requirements which in turn drive operational execution. Based on these projections the SBCC is currently planning for 6,000, 12,000 (high) and 18,000 (very high) encounters per day.”