Trump will deploy a 15,000-strong army against the migrant caravan

US President Donald Trump has ordered a significant increase in military presence on the border with Mexico. The contingent of American troops will be increased to 15 thousand people to stop the approaching migrant caravan , Reuters reports.

Earlier, the US Department of Defense announced that it was sending 5.2 thousand military personnel , some of which will be armed, to the border with Mexico to assist border guards, TASS reports. Even earlier, on October 25, the Pentagon considered it necessary to send only 800 soldiers to the border. As is now clear, the American staff underestimated the threat at that time.

On October 22, it became known from the press that a “caravan of migrants” who had left Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador due to poverty and violence was approaching the US borders. Most migrants are from Honduras, which has one of the leaders in the number of murders per capita in the world (more than 90 murders for every 100 thousand population).

The caravan left the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras and was stopped by Mexican authorities at a bridge on the border with Guatemala. However, many crossed the water by swimming or using homemade rafts.

Hundreds of additional Mexican federal police officers were deployed to the border in Tapachula, a city in the Mexican state of Chiapas. However, the police did not receive any instructions to block the movement of people. On Saturday, October 20, Mexican authorities announced that they intend to open the border to women and children from the “migrant caravan.”

At the same time, many migrants, without waiting for official permission to cross the border due to lengthy processing, entered Mexico bypassing border checkpoints. In Mexican territory, the refugees received donations from local residents and continued on their way to the US border.

On Sunday, October 28, another convoy of migrants set off from El Salvador.

News of the movement of crowds of migrants to the American borders caused a stir in the White House and the Pentagon. Over the following days, they made a series of threatening statements, convincing migrants to abandon their plans to enter the United States.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that American authorities are acting in the interests of the migrants themselves by prohibiting them from entering the United States. "They (the migrants) may become victims of traffickers or those who would exploit them. We are deeply concerned about the violence caused by some members of the group, as well as the apparent political motivation of some of the organizers of the caravan," the secretary of state said.

He also emphasized that the United States will not allow illegal immigrants to cross the border, and those who still manage to do so will remain on American territory. And President Trump even threatened to “seal the border.” “I will involve the army, not the reserve, but the active armed forces,” the head of the United States emphasized. Trump said his troops are ready to meet criminals and "bad guys" who are moving into his country in groups of migrants.

In his Twitter microblog, the leader of a nuclear superpower continues to publish menacing and bellicose posts addressed to “unstoppable” migrants. "Our military is concentrating on the southern border. Large numbers of troops are yet to arrive. We will not allow these caravans of thugs and gangsters to enter the United States. Our border is sacred... Go back," Donald Trump wrote .