Trump says the US may send more troops to the US-Mexico border than the US currently has deployed to Afghanistan

Airman First Class Daniel A. Hernandez/US Air Force

President Donald Trump says the US may send as many as 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border as troops, like these soldiers from the 541st Sapper Company, board flights headed for missions on the border.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US may deploy anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border in response to the approaching migrant caravans.

Should this happen, the US will have more troops serving at the southern border than there are in Iraq and Syria, possibly even Afghanistan, where roughly 14,000 US troops are deployed.

These forces would join the thousands of Customs and Border Protection officials, as well as 2,100 National Guard personnel advancing Operation Guardian Support on the border. The Department Of Defense and Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that roughly 5,200 additional troops would head south, with officials noting that this was just the beginning.

The commander of US Northern Command revealed Tuesday that there will be additional forces. These troops, limited to Title X work by the Posse Comitatus act, will carry out missions as part of Operation Faithful Patriot, which is in support of CBP. The Trump administration has declared the situation at the border a national emergency.

While many critics have called the deployments, which are already underway, political stunts ahead of the mid-term elections, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters Wednesday that "we don't do stunts."

The force of mostly engineers and military police will be deployed to Texas, Arizona, and California to harden points of entry through the building of barriers and other relevant activities.