The 5,800 primarily active duty troops who were rushed to the U.S.-Mexico border to guard against a impending caravan of migrants from Honduras — a move that’s been widely viewed as a midterms stunt by President Trump — are leaving the border before the supposed caravan even arrives, Politico reported.
The first round of troops will be sent home this week, Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan told Politico Monday. Those service members came from engineering and logistical units that helped put up wire to secure parts of the border. All troops will be sent home by Dec. 15, Buchanan told Politico.
The service members were deployed just before the midterm elections after Trump demanded that the military deployment include more troops than just the National Guard. Buchanan confirmed previous reports that the military had to reject the Department of Homeland Security’s request to send armed troops to the border in case of conflict with the approaching caravan.
