The Department of Defense is working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to work out details for placing National Guard troops at the Mexican border, Rep. Mike Johnson, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Friday.
"We've been urging the president since he took the oath of office to be serious about border security and he has been," the Louisiana Republican told Fox News' "Happening Now."
"It's been a major priority of his. He's said it all along, even on the campaign trail and following through with that. We applaud it."
The departments who are working on the issue have set up a new cell through the Pentagon to work with logistics to determine exactly how many troops and what their operations will be, said Johnson.
"We know they will help with surveillance and help with operational support, fleet mechanics and maybe some air surveillance, which would be a big help as well," said Johnson of the National Guard troops.
"We know that Customs and Border Protection is welcoming this assistance. We need it because, we all know, we have a porous border and it's a serious concern."
The numbers of people coming across the border have gone down after Trump took office and Republicans gained control of Congress, said Johnson, but the border is still porous and that is a serious issue.
"The message is we would be tougher on border security," he said. "Now we've seen an uptick in the month of March. We've seen an increase in the numbers. Now we've seen the caravan, the infamous caravan moving towards the border."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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