On 22 November 2018, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said military police deployed to the border with Mexico would be unarmed and would not have arrest powers.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mattis said there would be no armed element in the deployment. He said the troops were there to help protect border officials from possible threats, not to take over law-enforcement duties.
The comments came as a convoy of almost 3,000 Central American migrants arrived in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. The group said it was fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
President Donald Trump has described the caravan of migrants seeking entry into the US as an “invasion” and has deployed about 5,800 troops to the southern border to “harden” it.
Mattis also said the Department of Homeland Security had not asked for troops to use “lethal force”. He added: “Relax, don't worry about it.”
He said soldiers carrying batons and shields could be allowed to hold migrants briefly, for “minutes, not even hours”, but would still not be authorised to arrest them.
Mattis gave an example of how the deployment would work if border personnel were attacked. “If someone's beating on a border patrolman, and if we were in a position to have to do something about it, we could stop them from beating on them and take them over and deliver them to a border patrolman who would then arrest them,” he said.
The migrant group’s arrival also came after a US federal judge blocked an order issued by Trump to deny the possibility of asylum to migrants crossing the southern border illegally.
The migrants said they were leaving their countries in search of a better future for themselves and their families. Some said they had been threatened or mistreated by criminal gangs in their hometowns, while others said they hoped to find work that would allow them to send money home.
Many said their goal was to reach the US, where some already had relatives and others believed wages would be higher than in Latin America. The organised nature of the caravan was described as relatively new, even though Central Americans have long fled their homelands for the US.
Travelling together can offer some protection, since migrants are often kidnapped by traffickers and drug gangs that force them to work for them.
