EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A New Mexico congressman on Friday characterized a new Trump administration plan to deploy additional troops to the border with Mexico as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday the administration is considering plans to create a “buffer zone” along the Southwest border where the U.S. military could detain and hold migrants coming across illegally from Mexico. This is on top of the deployment of thousands of troops to assist Department of Homeland Security personnel already on the border helping Border Patrol stop migrants and drugs.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, called on the administration to instead purchase more equipment for the U.S. Border Patrol and send additional resources to ports of entry, which is usually where illegal drugs come into the country.
“I cannot tell you how wrong-headed this approach is for the border security needs we have,” Vasquez said in a Zoom call with reporters. “I wish the administration would take some time and talk to (Customs and Border Protection), talk to local landowners about the operational needs that we have – and it’s really rooted in technology at our ports of entry.”
Earlier this week, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham blasted the purported plans for the military buffer zone between the border wall and the rest of New Mexico as a waste of resources.
The Department of Defense has not confirmed the deployment, and Vasquez said he has been unable to obtain concrete information from the White House.
“We have a federal department that is supposed to take care of this, and that is the Department of Homeland Security. We shouldn’t be syphoning resources from the Department of Defense to create some type of political side show,” Vasquez said.
He added he spoke to federal officials amid a plummeting number of migrant apprehensions between ports of entry.
“They are asking for additional resources for their Border Patrol agents, they’re asking for more folks watching the line. They are asking for better technology,” he said.
Deploying more soldiers to rural areas with little migrant or illegal drug flows “is a waste of taxpayer resources, of military readiness at a time our soldiers should be training for the next generation (of warfare) rather than essentially being on their phones, doing nothing,” he added.
New Mexico’s entire congressional delegation is Democrat, as is the governor. The party also has a solid majority in the statehouse and state senate.
In neighboring Texas, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, has said he’s comfortable with active-duty troops patrolling the border and sees the deployment as a long-term operation independent of the ebbs and flows of migrant encounters.
Another Texan, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, earlier told News Nation the arrival of troops has provided a needed logistical and morale boost to the Border Patrol.
“They’re the ones building walls, they’re the ones driving buses, building the camps that are needed. It is a much, much needed help,” he said.
DoD troops hitting the ground in Arizona
Stepped-up military involvement in border security is also about to take place in Arizona. The Department of Defense recently announced the creation of a new task force in Fort Huachuca.
Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) is tasked with coordinating DoD resources to “seal the southern border and repel illegal activity,” the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement dated March 14.
A headquarters battalion from the Fort Drum, New York-based Army 10th Mountain Division already deployed to Fort Huachuca and will be setting up JTF-SB headquarters there. A deputy commander from the U.S. Marine Corps and a civilian deputy commander from U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been assigned to the task force.
“The Army has a nearly 250-year history of providing unique military capabilities for our national leaders. This mission is no different,” JTF-SB commander Army Maj. Gen. Scott M. Naumann said in the statement. “From Imperial Beach, California to McAllen, Texas, we will employ those capabilities and technology to bolster the efforts of our interagency partners, in order to gain operational control of the border, as ordered.”
Some 9,600 service members are or will be deployed to support the new joint task force.