For more than a year, the Pentagon has deployed about 9,000 active-duty troops along nearly 2,000 miles of the southwest border to confront illegal migrants, smugglers and drug cartels.
The troops are still there — at a cost of tens of millions of dollars each week — even though the Trump administration months ago largely achieved its goal of slashing illegal crossings.
The military patrols, working closely with Customs and Border Protection as well as the Mexican military, have pushed Mexican cartels and smugglers into more remote mountainous areas to evade detection. But threats to American troops are on the rise, U. S. officials say.
Some members of Congress have questioned whether the patrols are the best use of active-duty troops who would otherwise be training for deployments to Eastern Europe, the Middle East or the Indo-Pacific region.
Lawmakers and independent analysts have voiced concerns that the border missions will distract from training, drain resources and undermine readiness. The mission marked a milestone late last month when its third commander, Maj. Gen. Curtis D.
Taylor of the Army’s First Armored Division, took control of one of the centerpieces of the Trump administration’s Western Hemisphere security policy. Challenges abound for the troops involved in the mission, which the military calls Ardent Vanguard.
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