‘Colossal waste’: Border Patrol union chief rips Trump’s buildup of troops
The head of the national Border Patrol union — which endorsed Donald Trump’s candidacy for the White House — called the president’s deployment of National Guardtroops to the Mexican border “a colossal waste of resources.”
“We have seen no benefit,” said Brandon Judd, president of the union that represents 15,000 agents, the National Border Patrol Council, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“When I found out the National Guard was going to be on the border I was extremely excited,” Judd said, because earlier deployments had helped ease the Patrol’s workload.
But this time, “that has not happened at all.”
About 1,600 National Guard troops were deployed on the border, and another 750 more troops may be added, and the total could reach 4,000 “based on requests for assistance and what they need,” Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told the paper.
“We want to match the right number of troops to do the jobs that are needed, not just provide a certain number of troops,” Davis said.
Border Patrol Acting Chief Carla Provost acknowledged that the National Guard’s role was different from past deployments.
Now, the troops have to be paired with an agent who has law enforcement powers, and Border Patrol and defense officials decided it was better to use them behind the scenes for surveillance and air support.
When Trump announced the deployment, he said it would be a temporary fix until he gets his long-promised border wall.
“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” Trump said.
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