US troops arrive at border as migration curbs set to end

About 550 U.S. active duty troops have begun arriving along the U.S.-Mexico border in the first group of military support ahead of an expected increase of migrants, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday.

The movement of troops is part of efforts to beef up security along the southern border as the U.S. prepares for the end of immigration restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Those restrictions are set to expire Thursday , leading to concerns about whether that will result in an increase in migrants trying to enter the U.S. starting Friday.

The forces will mainly be used to help monitor and watch the border, or do data entry and support, and are “not there in any way to be interacting with migrants,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary. The goal is to free up U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to do law enforcement activities.

“They needed assistance performing some of those back shop type requirements so that they can focus on the law enforcement aspect of this,” Ryder said.

At least some of the active duty troops will be used near El Paso, Texas, he said, while adding that CBP will decide where forces will go.

More than 900 additional soldiers, Marines and airmen will follow around the end of May. The initial plan calls for a temporary 90-day deployment of the active duty forces, because they can be moved much more quickly to the border than National Guard or Reserve troops.

U.S. and international law give migrants the right to seek asylum. However, the U.S. has used Title 42 of a public health law to expel migrants with no chance at asylum 2.8 million times since March 2020 on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The Biden administration has said that it is ready to deal with whatever happens after Title 42′s use ends, although it has also repeatedly criticized Congress for not making changes to the country’s immigration system.

“We believe we have a robust process to deal with what is going to occur after Title 42 lifts. Again, we’re using the tools that are available to us because Congress refuses to do their job as it relates to the border,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

Roughly 2,500 National Guard members are already spread across all sectors of the border, providing an array of support to CBP, including monitoring, detection and air transportation.

Separately, Texas National Guard troops are also working along the border under state authority. Ryder said the active duty troops will be doing an entirely separate mission.

Even with the COVID-19 asylum restrictions still in place, the administration has seen record numbers of people crossing the border. President Joe Biden has responded by cracking down on those who cross illegally and by creating new pathways meant to offer alternatives to a dangerous and often deadly journey.

Some locations across the border are already seeing an influx of migrants, often spurred by false information from smugglers or widespread rumors about what the Title 42 changes will mean for their chances of being able to remain in the U.S.

Agents in the Border Patrol’s relatively quiet El Centro, California, sector stopped about 260 migrants a day over a four or five day period through Sunday, up from about 90 a day the previous week, said Gregory Bovino, the sector chief.

It’s unclear what’s driving the increase other than anticipation that pandemic restrictions are about to end, Bovino said in an interview.

“We see these surges whenever there’s a major event or a news story,” he said. “We don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t say there’s going to be a massive surge on Friday.”

Top nationalities crossing illegally in the El Centro sector are from Peru, Colombia and Senegal, Bovino said. On Monday, agents found migrants from 22 countries.

Also Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President Joe Biden spoke by telephone. Since Mexico shares a roughly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border with the United States, it’s key to the success of any plans by the United States to control immigration at the southern border. The Mexican president said the two spoke for over an hour.

“We reaffirmed the commitment to continue working together on issues like migration with a humanistic perspective, drug and weapons trafficking, and above all, cooperation on the welfare of the poorest people on our continent,” he said.

Associated Press reporters Elliot Spagat in Imperial, California and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

美国国防部官员周二表示，约 550 名美国现役军人已开始抵达美墨边境，作为应对预计移民人数增加的第一批军事支援力量。

此次调动军队是为加强南部边境安全而采取的措施之一，旨在为美国即将结束与新冠疫情相关的移民限制做准备。这些限制将于周四到期，引发了人们对周五开始是否会出现大量移民试图进入美国的担忧。

五角大楼新闻秘书帕特·莱德准将表示，这些部队的主要用途是协助监控边境、进行数据录入和后勤支持工作，“绝不会以任何方式与移民接触”。此举旨在解放美国海关和边境保护局人员，使其能够专注于执法活动。

莱德说：“他们需要一些后勤方面的帮助，以便他们能够专注于执法方面。”

他表示，至少部分现役部队将被部署在德克萨斯州埃尔帕索附近，并补充说，美国海关与边境保护局将决定部队的部署地点。

5月底前后，还将有900多名陆军、海军陆战队和空军人员陆续抵达。初步计划是将现役部队临时部署90天，因为与国民警卫队或预备役部队相比，他们可以更快地部署到边境地区。

美国和国际法赋予移民寻求庇护的权利。然而，自2020年3月以来，美国以防止新冠病毒传播为由，援引公共卫生法第42条，驱逐了280万名没有庇护机会的移民。

拜登政府表示，它已准备好应对《美国法典》第 42 条终止使用后可能发生的一切，尽管它也一再批评国会没有对该国的移民制度进行改革。

白宫新闻秘书卡琳·让-皮埃尔周二表示：“我们相信我们有一套完善的流程来应对《第42条修正案》解除后将要发生的情况。再次强调，我们正在利用一切可用的手段，因为国会拒绝履行其在边境问题上的职责。”

大约 2500 名国民警卫队成员已经分布在边境的各个区域，为美国海关与边境保护局提供一系列支持，包括监控、侦查和空中运输。

此外，德克萨斯州国民警卫队也在州政府的授权下沿边境地区开展工作。莱德表示，现役部队将执行一项完全不同的任务。

即使在新冠疫情相关的庇护限制措施仍然生效的情况下，美国政府仍发现越境人数创下历史新高。拜登总统的应对措施包括严厉打击非法越境者，并开辟新的途径，为人们提供避免危险且往往致命的旅程的替代方案。

边境某些地区已经出现移民涌入，这通常是由于走私者提供的虚假信息或关于第42条修正案将如何影响他们留在美国机会的广泛谣言所致。

据边境巡逻队相对平静的加利福尼亚州埃尔森特罗区负责人格雷戈里·博维诺称，在截至周日的四五天时间里，该区的特工每天拦截约 260 名移民，而前一周每天的拦截人数约为 90 人。

博维诺在接受采访时表示，除了预期疫情限制即将结束之外，目前还不清楚是什么因素导致了这种增长。

他说：“每当有重大事件或新闻报道时，我们都会看到这种激增的现象。我们没有水晶球，所以我不能断言周五会出现大规模的激增。”

博维诺表示，在埃尔森特罗地区非法越境的主要国籍是秘鲁、哥伦比亚和塞内加尔。周一，执法人员查获了来自22个国家的移民。

周二，墨西哥总统安德烈斯·曼努埃尔·洛佩斯·奥夫拉多尔与美国总统乔·拜登通了电话。由于墨西哥与美国接壤，拥有约2000英里（3200公里）的边境线，因此，此次通话对于美国任何旨在控制南部边境移民的计划能否成功至关重要。墨西哥总统表示，两人通话持续了一个多小时。

他说：“我们重申了继续在移民问题上开展合作的承诺，以人道主义视角看待移民问题、打击毒品和武器贩运问题，最重要的是，在改善我们大陆上最贫困人口的福祉方面开展合作。”

美联社记者埃利奥特·斯帕加特（加利福尼亚州帝国市）和马克·史蒂文森（墨西哥城）对本报道亦有贡献。