The military response to the migrant caravan has begun shifting toward San Diego.
About 300 troops, mostly Army military police, were shifted to San Diego over the weekend. Troops can be seen in a video put out by Customs and Border Protection which showed the MPs in full riot gear, with gas masks and shields. The MPs are standing behind lines of Border Patrol agents as they shut down the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Sunday.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump told reporters that he gave troops along the border the authority to use lethal force. On Sunday, Border Patrol agents used tear gas to deter a group of people as they moved toward the U.S. border.
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A statement put out by U.S. Northern Command said that MPs were unarmed and did not have direct contact with migrants during the tumultuous weekend. The mission of the troops was to back up the border patrol. Groups of mainly Marines from bases in Southern California were used to install and move barricades.
U.S. Northern Command also released photos showing troops practicing riot control techniques in San Diego before being deployed to the border.
The active duty troops were moved from Texas and Arizona, areas which have seen relatively little impact from the group of migrants moving their way through Mexico. There are now 1,800 active duty troops along the border in California. Overall, the number of troops involved in the border operation has dropped from 5,900 to 5,600, according to U.S. Northern Command.
