Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is scheduled to arrive in McAllen, Texas, today to visit some of the thousands of troops deployed there by President Trump last month. Nearly 6,000 active-duty troops are currently stationed in Texas, California and Arizona, following Trump’s escalating attacks against the Central American caravans heading toward the U.S.-Mexico border in the run-up to the midterms. According to some reports, the border deployments could cost $220 million, despite the fact the Pentagon does not see the caravans as a risk. Mattis’s visit follows the Trump administration’s announcement of new immigration rules to deny asylum to anyone who enters the country outside of a port of entry.
A few hundred migrants from the Central American caravans have arrived in the border town of Tijuana Tuesday as the vast majority are still at least 1,000 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border. We’ll have more on the latest news from the border later in the broadcast.