President Donald Trump's deployment of active duty U.S. troops and
National Guard forces to the U.S.-Mexico border could cost the country
as much as $470 million during the 2019 fiscal year alone, now that the
Pentagon has extended the border mission until the end of September.
That's according to the latest estimates.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced it would be extending the deployment of active-duty troops until September 30, adding 289 days to the ongoing border mission.
Read more: ICE, other agencies, see transparency take major hit during government shutdown
Estimates sent to Newsweek by the Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), an independent and nonpartisan policy research institute, suggest that the extension could add about $170 million in additional costs beyond what the Pentagon had previously announced.
"Altogether, the deployments of both active-duty and National Guard troops to the border could cost in the neighborhood of $410 million to $470 million during fiscal year 2019," Travis Sharp, CSBA researcher for defense budget studies, told Newsweek.
Sharp said that the number could be significantly higher, however, if the Trump administration decided to boost the number of troops at the border over the coming months.
The U.S. leader had initially ordered more than 5,000 active-duty forces to be deployed to the southern border in late October as a caravan of Central American asylum seekers made its way toward the U.S. Since then, the number of troops stationed along the border has dropped to about 2,350, according to The Associated Press.
Read more at: Donald Trump Military Border Mission Could Cost U.S. $470 Million In 2019 Alone
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced it would be extending the deployment of active-duty troops until September 30, adding 289 days to the ongoing border mission.
Read more: ICE, other agencies, see transparency take major hit during government shutdown
Estimates sent to Newsweek by the Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), an independent and nonpartisan policy research institute, suggest that the extension could add about $170 million in additional costs beyond what the Pentagon had previously announced.
"Altogether, the deployments of both active-duty and National Guard troops to the border could cost in the neighborhood of $410 million to $470 million during fiscal year 2019," Travis Sharp, CSBA researcher for defense budget studies, told Newsweek.
Sharp said that the number could be significantly higher, however, if the Trump administration decided to boost the number of troops at the border over the coming months.
The U.S. leader had initially ordered more than 5,000 active-duty forces to be deployed to the southern border in late October as a caravan of Central American asylum seekers made its way toward the U.S. Since then, the number of troops stationed along the border has dropped to about 2,350, according to The Associated Press.
Read more at: Donald Trump Military Border Mission Could Cost U.S. $470 Million In 2019 Alone
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