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Deployed border troops are preparing for militias stealing their gear, protester violence, documents show
The 5,200 troops mobilizing to the U.S. southern border are headed there to deter a caravan of migrants, but some of the direct threats they are preparing for are homegrown, according to documents obtained by Military Times.
In those documents, the military is concerned about the already dangerous drug cartels that operate with impunity on both sides of the border, armed U.S. citizens taking the law into their own hands — or pilfering their gear — and far-right or far-left protesters inciting violence.
The deployment was ordered by President Donald Trump to counter a caravan of thousands of migrants who are traveling primarily by foot and aren’t expected to reach the U.S. border for weeks. The president has ratcheted up the potential threat posed by the caravan, tweeting that the caravan potentially contains terrorists, gang members and other threats.