THIS IS WHAT IT'LL TAKE TO END THE MILITARY'S BORDER MISSION

摘要

Federalized National Guard troops have been deploying to the U.S.-Mexico border for nearly four years, with no end in sight. Despite ongoing discussions between the Defense and Homeland Security departments, officials have said there are no parameters or milestones set that would allow a withdrawal from the border. But the answer, according to the head of U.S. Northern Command, is to increase the budget and modernize Customs and Border Protection, so they no longer need the military's support. "I think they need to be funded," Air Force Gen. Glenn VanHerck told Military Times during an April 25 Defense Writers Group event. "I think they need to also utilize technology - technology of the future - that can help them get away from a manpower-based, intensive problem … to solve their challenges." The roughly 2,500 federally activated Guardsmen still on the border mission are there at the request of DHS, which has continually asked DoD for support so that their CBP agents can focus on detaining migrants. Because troops aren't able to perform law enforcement activities, soldiers and airmen instead use surveillance equipment and aviation to detect movement along the border and provide intelligence updates to CBP. The agency, for years, has had trouble filling its ranks, but VanHerck's suggestion that technology could cover those manpower gaps is a new addition to the narrative.