Trump Says He’ll Send Up To 15,000 Troops To Border

President Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could go as high as 15,000.

Mr. Trump told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday that “we’ll go up to anywhere between 10 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border.”

The president said the move would be aimed at preventing the entry of a caravan of migrants traveling from Central America. The caravan is still nearly 1,000 miles from the border, but Mr. Trump said they will be here soon.

The president has doubled down on stopping the caravan at the southern border, and repeated his threat on Wednesday to stop aid to any Central American countries that let the caravan through.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. is “going to be prepared” and that the migrants are “not coming into our country.”

Currently, there are 2,100 National Guard helping at the border. The Pentagon says an additional 5,200 active-duty troops could join them.

The president denied the idea that he’s perpetuating fear ahead of the midterms with his rhetoric on the caravan and illegal immigration.