US troop deployment at Mexico border extended till September: Pentagon
Mexico-US border wall
The United States is extending until September 30 the deployment of active duty soldiers and Coast Guard members at the border with Mexico, officials said Monday.
As part of the move to extend the mission past the original January 31 deadline, the Pentagon said it was "transitioning its support at the southwestern border from hardening ports of entry to mobile surveillance and detection, as well as concertina wire emplacement between ports of entry."
"DoD will continue to provide aviation support," the statement added, referring to the Department of Defense.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan approved the extension in response to a request from the Homeland Security Department, the Pentagon said in a statement. There are about 2,350 troops assigned to the border mission.
The impasse has paralysed Washington - its impact felt increasingly around the country - with the president refusing to sign off on budgets for swaths of government departments unrelated to the dispute.
As a result, 800,000 federal employees - including FBI agents, air traffic controllers and museum staff - received no paychecks on Friday.
Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the US-Mexican border presents challenges, but Trump has turned his single-minded push for more walls into a crusade.
He tweeted Sunday that "The building of the Wall on the Southern Border will bring down the crime rate throughout the entire Country!"
Some studies show that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than people born in the United States.
Only in recent days has Trump begun describing the problem as "humanitarian," referring in a tweet Saturday to "a massive Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border."
President Donald Trump has refused to back away from his demand that lawmakers approve funding to build a Mexico border wall.
Due tothe US government shutdown, small business administration loans to help mom-and-pop businesses trying to invest, hire and grow have been delayed.
There are no government loans for seeds or cattle feed and none of the regular Agriculture Department data about crop yields and commodity prices that farmers depend on to plan for the coming year.
Permits from some oil and gas drilling - which feeds into GDP calculations - are delayed.