San Diego-based Marines are among the active duty troops deploying to the border as pandemic restrictions on asylum seekers expire this week. Officials are preparing for an influx of migrants, Marine officials said Tuesday.
Two hundred Marines from Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division are heading to the border to support Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol, said 1st Lt. Ana Chiu, a spokesperson for I Marine Expeditionary Force at the base.
Military officials did not say when the Marines will arrive at the border or exactly where they are going.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, said at a Tuesday news conference none of the 1,500 active duty troops being sent to the border will play any role dealing with migrants.
"In terms of the types of activities … they'll be providing additional ground detection monitoring capability, warehouse support (and) data entry," Ryder said. "They will not be conducting any type of law enforcement activities."
Ryder said the border deployment is scheduled for 90 days and the first wave of troops is being sent to the border near El Paso, Texas.
About 550 active duty troops are already at the border.
In 2018, more than 1,000 1st Marine Division Marines deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border in California.
