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Home / Grand strategy / Soldiers Aren’t Border Police: the perils of using troops against migrants
Grand strategy, Western Hemisphere

March 3, 2025

Soldiers Aren’t Border Police: the perils of using troops against migrants

It’s so quiet that the border-wide number of troops is greater than the monthly number of apprehended migrants, estimated at 8,450 in February. Yet the troops deployed come “from some of the most experienced and highest readiness elite units in the Army,” noted Jennifer Kavanagh of Defense Priorities. The politicized push to rush troops to the border is idling personnel in whom the Defense Department has invested heavily.

Read at Washington Office on Latin America

Featuring

Jennifer
Kavanagh

Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis

Defense Priorities

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