WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2021) An estimated 3,600 US troops will remain on the United States' border with Mexico through the current fiscal year, Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell told Sputnik.
"There are roughly 3,600 personnel supporting that mission, and that number will be there through the end of the FY [fiscal year]," Mitchell said in a statement on Friday.
The troops will provide logistical support to the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection as they work to secure the US southern border.
On Thursday, the White House said President Joe Biden had informed Congress that he terminated the Trump administration's national emergency at the US southern border.
Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that US troops remain on the border because their deployment was already funded during the previous administration.
Between October to January, more than 70,000 illegal migrants have been apprehended on the US-Mexico border. The number of illegal migrants apprehended has been increasing since last April. The last time the number of apprehensions peaked was in May 2019 with 144,116 apprehensions.
