Some of the troops sent to America's southern border with Mexico will start going home this week because the assignments for which they were deployed are complete.
Politico reported that troops from engineering and logistics squads are about to go back to their home bases after the brief deployment to shore up border defenses. All of the troops deployed are still expected to wrap up the border mission by Dec. 15.
"Now that things are set down here, we don't need as many troops to actually build a base camp and things like that, because the base camps are built," Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, head of U.S. Northern Command, told Politico.
"Our end date right now is 15 December, and I've got no indications from anybody that we'll go beyond that."
Buchanan also confirmed to Politico that the Department of Homeland Security asked the military to provide an armed force that would be used to quell any violent clashes between migrants and Border Patrol agents. The Department of Defense, however, said no.
"That is a law enforcement task, and the secretary of defense does not have the authority to approve that inside the homeland," Buchanan said.
President Donald Trump ordered the troops to the border last month as thousands of migrants were traveling through Mexico toward the U.S., with the goal of gaining access to America. The migrants, who began their journey in Central America, have begun arriving at the border.
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