Secretary of Defense James Mattis has signed off on an extension to the National Guard’s deployment order, allowing up to 4,000 troops to remain at the U.S.-Mexico border for one year.
Mattis originally authorized Operation Guardian Support in April, and it was set to expire at the end of September. This reauthorization will allow the forces, which currently number about 2,000, to stay and continue to work with border agents through September of 2019.
"It’s the same mission, the same set up," Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Jamie Davis told The Daily Caller on Friday.
According to Davis there are about 2,200 National Guard troops deployed along the Southwest border. The vast majority, 1,145, are in Texas, 580 are in Arizona, 360 in California, and 115 are in New Mexico. Most of the troops come from the border states themselves, but several states are supplying aviation support, including Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Florida, among others.
Currently, it’s unclear how much funding the Pentagon will divert to border deployment. An earlier estimate put the cost at about $182 million, according to The Washington Examiner, but funding for the upcoming fiscal year depends on the number of personnel being deployed and the time period they’ll be there.
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