The US soldiers on the border with Mexico should be allowed to use bats only in incidents with migrants from Central America. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that Customs and Border Guard could request soldiers to reinforce if refugees are violently trying to cross the border. The soldiers are then not armed.
„It’ll probably be members of the military police who are equipped with shields and batons,“ said Mattis. „No firearms.“
US President Donald Trump sent nearly 5,800 troops to the Mexican border in the face of the refugee marches from Central America to the United States. Trump had said in the meantime, the soldiers could shoot at refugees, should throw these stones.
According to Mattis, exactly 5,764 US soldiers are currently deployed on the border with Mexico. The cost of the operation is currently estimated at $ 72 million. But the defense minister said the number is expected to increase.
According to the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, 8,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras currently cross Mexico in various refugee marches to reach the United States. On their way, hundreds of them have arrived in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, where displeasure with the newcomers is growing.
213 people arrested in Mexico
In the largest migrant hostel in the sports complex „Benito Juárez“ arrived in the course of Wednesday about 1300 more people. In total, about 4400 people were accommodated there, authorities said.
Immigration officials in Mexico have now arrested 213 migrants. They were almost all in a fourth so-called caravan on the road, which had recently come to the United States with the target, said the responsible office. The migrants were therefore picked up on Wednesday on a highway on the border with Guatemala and the southern Mexican city of Tapachula and first brought to a reception center.
Those without adequate identity documents must expect a deportation to their home countries. Most of those arrested came from El Salvador, followed by Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
