Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended the deployment of 5,800 U.S. troops on the southern border, calling it 'very good training' even as he failed to provide concrete answers on the long-term mission or costs.
Mattis visited the border along with Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, who also spoke to troops in favor of the deployment – which has come under criticism by some elected officials and retired military brass who have branded it unjustified and driven by electoral concerns.
Mattis, a former Marine general, also compared the mission to the 1916 deployment to counter the Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco 'Pancho' Villa.
That deployment, led by Gen. John Pershing, failed to capture the Mexican revolutionary who made incursions into U.S. territory by the time of the outbreak of World War I.
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake on Wednesday said the deployment was a 'stunt,' a label also applied to the election-eve mission.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen tour Base Camp Donna in Donna, Texas, U.S., November 14, 2018
President Trump ordered the troops to the border to confront the immigrant caravan making its way through Mexico. Some migrants in Tijuana, hundreds of miles from Mattis and the troops in south Texas, climbed atop a border fence. Some jumped across the border but got apprehended by Border Patrol.
Mattis defended the deployment as a way to prepare troops for other contingencies.
Mattis said officers have told him that the deployment has been 'very good training' because it amounts to a rehearsal for the kind of logistical demands - such as loading aircraft - that must be met in wartime.
He also compared the mission to the 1916 deployment to counter the Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco 'Pancho' Villa.
U.S. Army North commanding general Lt. General Jeffrey Buchanan welcomes Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security at Base Camp Donna in Donna, Texas
Migrants traveling with a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, wait in line to board buses in La Concha, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Buses and trucks are carrying some migrants into the state of Sinaloa along the Gulf of California and further northward into the border state of Sonora. The bulk of the main caravan appeared to be about 1,100 miles from the border, but was moving hundreds of miles per day
'In terms of readiness, it's actually, I believe, so far improving our readiness for deployments,' he said.
He took questions from deployed troops, including one who wanted to know if U.S. forces would ultimately have to take down concertina wire they have been stringing to protect the border.
'Well let you know,' Mattis replied, Buzzfeed reported.
Speaking to reporters on his way to visit U.S. troops along the border in south Texas, Mattis declined to provide an estimate of how much the mission will cost. He said cost figures he has received thus far are 'not anywhere near right.'
He added that he believes, 'very quickly we'll know the real cost. So we'll keep you posted as the real costs come in.'
A soldier asked Mattis if they would ultimately have to take down the concertina wire
Critics have called the troop deployment a 'stunt,' as the migrant caravan makes its way to the U.S. border
The Pentagon chief said that within a week to 10 days the 5,800 troops currently deployed for the border mission will have accomplished all the tasks initially requested by Customs and Border Protection, although additional tasks are now being worked out between the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. Mattis did not say how soon the whole mission might end; current deployments are scheduled to last until Dec. 15, but that could change.
In addition to the 5,800 active duty troops in the border area, about 2,100 National Guard troops have been providing border support since April.
Critics have questioned the wisdom of using the military on the border where there is no discernible security threat, although President Donald Trump has said that a caravan of Central American migrants traveling northward through Mexico amounts to an 'invasion.'
Since the election, Trump has said little about the matter, and no border threat has yet materialized.
Asked whether he believes there is a security threat at the border that justifies the use of the active duty military, Mattis said he defers to the judgment of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who joined him at the border Wednesday.
Migrants traveling with a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, wait to board a bus in La Concha, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Buses and trucks are carrying some migrants into the state of Sinaloa along the Gulf of California and further northward into the border state of Sonora. The bulk of the main caravan appeared to be about 1,100 miles from the border, but was moving hundreds of miles per day. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Nielsen and Mattis spoke with senior U.S. commanders and addressed rank-and-file troops. Mattis told the troops their mission is to 'back up' Customs and Border Protection. 'Right now that's our role and that's all our role is,' he said.
'The eyes of the world right now - certainly all of the Americans - are on you,' Mattis told the soldiers, adding that they are part of a 'non-traditional' mission. 'We're here because of the number of illegals who say they are going to illegally try to cross into our country,' he said, apparently referring to the several thousand migrants moving north through Mexico.
One soldier asked Mattis what are the short- and long-term plans for the military mission.
A migrant traveling with a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: 'Trump, No to militarization of the border,' after boarding a bus in La Concha, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018
Mattis said the short-term objective is to get sufficient numbers of wire and other barriers in place along the border as requested by Customs and Border Protection. The longer-term objective, he said, is 'somewhat to be determined.'
'When you're in something like this,' Mattis said, 'it's dynamic, it's unpredictable. We'll have to see.'
In an interview with reporters traveling with him to Texas, Mattis took issue with assertions by critics that the deployment undertaken shortly before the Nov. 6 midterm elections was costing the military in preparedness for combat.
Mattis said the mission, which does not include performing law enforcement tasks, was reviewed by Department of Justice lawyers and deemed a legal undertaking. 'It's obviously a moral and ethical mission to support our border patrolmen,' he said.
In making the argument that the military has often been used on the U.S.-Mexico border, Mattis said it is in line with missions dating back to early in the 20th century. He noted that President Woodrow Wilson deployed tens of thousands of National Guard and active duty troops to the border in 1916 in response to Mexican military raids into the U.S.
'That's over a century ago, and the threat then was Pancho Villa's troops - revolutionary raiding across the border into the United States,' he said.
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