'Several thousand' more US troops to go to southern border: Pentagon

Thousands more troops will head to the US-Mexico border, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said, as part of a controversial mission to enhance security along the frontier.

Currently, about 2,350 active-duty troops are working along the border, where they are helping border patrol agents by providing logistical support and installing concertina-wire fencing.

They were deployed under an order President Donald Trump gave before midterm elections in November as "caravans" of Central American migrants made their way to the border to seek asylum from violence and poverty in their own countries.

At a Pentagon press conference Tuesday, Shanahan said "several thousand" additional troops would deploy on the border mission, which was supposed to wrap up January 31 but has been extended through September.

The Department of Homeland Security has asked for additional help putting up fencing and with "expanded surveillance," Shanahan said.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis ...