Biden Defends Sending 1,500 Troops to Border

President Joe Biden is defending his decision to deploy 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying they are necessary to free up Border Patrol agents who need to be on the border before next week’s expected migrant surge. 

“They’re not there to enforce the law,” Biden told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Friday. “They’re there to free up the border agents that need to be on the border. We’re having another thousand people coming — asylum judges to make judgments, to move things along.”

The soldiers have been deployed temporarily as the Trump-era Title 42 regulations, enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, will end May 11. 

Biden said he’s asked Congress for help with what’s needed at the border, including more agents to clear immigrants who are entering the country. 

“I’ve worked out a very good relationship with the president of Mexico,” Biden said. “We’re in a situation now where we’re going to set up the ability for people to go back into an American facility to determine whether they qualify as a refugee, whether they qualify for asylum, whether they qualify for work orders.”

This would mean a combination of making sure there is an orderly system and allowing U.S. employers to have access to additional employees, particularly farmworkers. 

Tuesday, a U.S. official told The Hill that the troops will be assisting with monitoring, data entry, warehouse support, and ground-based detection. By federal law, active duty troops are not allowed to conduct law enforcement activities. 

Critics, though, are objecting to Biden’s decision to allow Title 42 to lapse without another plan for deporting immigrants in place. 

Thursday, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced a bipartisan bill that would extend the president’s authority to expel migrants seeking asylum without being required to hold hearings, The Hill also reported.

“Our legislation gives the administration time to actually implement a realistic, workable plan that will secure our border, protect Arizona communities on the front lines of this crisis, and ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely,” Sinema said, while Tillis accused Biden of not doing more.

“The Biden administration has failed to secure the border, and the situation will get even worse once Title 42 is allowed to expire,” he said, calling for Congress to “immediately” take action. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence also slammed the administration, saying the expected “stampede” of immigrants is a “direct result of his policies.”

He also said that sending 1,500 troops to the border “to do paperwork isn’t going to make a difference.”