DHS Wants US Troops to Remain at Border for Next Three Years

The Department of Homeland Security wants troops to remain at the U.S.-Mexico border for at least the next three years, Stars and Stripes reported.

“DHS anticipates needing at least the current amount of [Defense Department] support for the next three to five years, possibly more,” stated the Government Accountability Office report, the news outlet noted.

Troops were approved through Sept. 30. The Defense Department says about 3,600 troops now serve in support of Border Patrol, Stars and Stripes reported.

The Pentagon told the GAO the military would prefer “to provide temporary assistance until DHS can independently execute its border security mission,” the news outlet reported.

Homeland Security is expected to continue requesting support from the Pentagon. The cost estimate of the mission from April 2018 to September 2020 was nearly $1 billion, according to the report.

But the report stated after the Pentagon approved the fiscal year 2020 support request, the Defense Department said it couldn’t fulfill all of the support it pledged because it didn’t have the units available and able to do the work.

And where the report recommended officials work to agree on future support, the Department of Defense balked, saying it would “represent a more permanent and enduring commitment of its resources and may create an impression that DOD has a border security mission, among other things,” Stars and Stripes reported.

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