Pentagon sending 3,750 extra U.S. forces to border with Mexico

REUTERS - The Pentagon is sending 3,750 additional U.S. forces to the southwest border with Mexico for three months to support border agents, the Department of Defense said on Sunday (February 3). The deployment will raise the total number of active-duty forces supporting Customs and Border Protection agents there to about 4,350, it said. The Pentagon disclosed the official figure days after a Democratic lawmaker said about 3,500 extra troops would be deployed. President Donald Trump, who has portrayed the situation at the border as a crisis, was expected to talk about immigration and his proposal for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico during the annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. Trump's demand that money for the wall be included in spending legislation prompted an impasse with Democrats that led to a 35-day partial federal government shutdown that ended on Jan. 25. If lawmakers cannot reach a deal on the border security situation by Feb. 15, Trump has threatened to let the government shut down again or to declare a national emergency as a way to circumvent Congress and get his wall money.