 SLSCO receives $167M from Army Corps for border construction Washington DC (SPX) Nov 14, 2018 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded SLSCO, a construction company out of Galveston, Texas, a $167.5 million contract for border infrastructure design and construction, ramping up the construction company's existing activities on the border. The construction will take place near Mission, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, just west of McAllen, Texas, where many U.S. troops are deployed as part of the Trump Administration's effort to crack down on illegal border crossings in the area. Building under the contract, which was announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, is expected to run through May 2020 and falls under fiscal 2018 omnibus funding. SLSCO was also recently awarded a $145 million contract by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers for six miles of border wall construction near McAllen, including 18-foot sections for levees, clearing vegetation out to 150 feet from the wall, and lighting and surveillance equipment. The U.S. Border Patrol says it apprehended 137,000 migrants attempting to illegally cross the border in the McAllen sector in 2017. There are over 5,000 troops stationed on the U.S.-Mexican border operating in support of the Border Patrol with the laying of razor wire, setting up logistics dumps, helicopters and other support. The Pentagon has stated that the deployed personnel will play no direct role in the apprehension of migrants attempting to cross the border. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will be visiting soldiers and meeting with commanders in McAllen on Wednesday as part of a one-day domestic trip. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday that the Pentagon is still tabulating the potential costs of the deployment. Mattis also said that reports of a large migrant caravan shifting its course from the Texas border to Tijuana has not affected the mission. President Trump has repeatedly pledged to reinforce the border with wall construction and crackdowns on illegal border crossings and smuggling. The recent military deployments are meant to bolster the roughly 20,000 active Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement personnel involved with border enforcement.
|
U.S. troops on the U.S.-Mexico border are providing logistical and medical support, including temporary housing, to customs and border law enforcement efforts, and are mostly unarmed, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Wednesday.
Mattis conducted a press conference on the way to meet with commanders and soldiers deployed on the U.S.-Mexican border near McAllen, Texas, saying the mission was in line with similar operations conducted in the past and that operations by the military would remain limited to support for civilian law enforcement at the moment.
The Secretary said there is precedent for sending troops to the southern border, as was done at points during the previous four presidential administrations. He also referred to other incidents in the past, such as the U.S. Army intervention along the border in 1916 against the likes of guerillas such as Pancho Villa.
"I think it is very clear that support to border police, our border patrol is necessary right now." Mattis said while noting that members of the Mexican police were previously injured in clashes with members of the migrant caravan near the Guatemala-Mexico border.
There are currently 5,900 troops deployed to the border under orders from President Donald Trump to assist border patrol officials as a caravan continues to make its way through Mexico that Trump likened to an "invasion" before last Tuesday's mid-term elections.
Troops deployed to the border under the lead of U.S. Northern Command and NORTHCOM Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy in support of the Department of Homeland Security.
Mattis said troops are there to provide logistical and medical support to customs and medical teams, including temporary housing. Soldiers also have been constructing roads, fuel depots, barricades and other facilities needed by border enforcement. The only armed troops are military police in a standard overwatch and force protection role, as they would do anywhere.
"The personnel actually doing the missions are not armed," Mattis said.
Helicopter rehearsals have been conducted so that Border Patrol can quickly transported by Army helicopters if needed for reinforcement. "They are not being used to transport U.S. troops right now," Mattis said, adding that troops are working to assist in the placement of obstacles along the border.
While there are currently 5,900 troops deployed, Mattis said the number could fluctuate up or down, with a likely ceiling of 7,000 soldiers sent on the assistance mission.
Mattis declined to estimate the costs involved with the operation, saying that deployed units are tracking their expenditures, and that the Pentagon has not received those individual estimates yet.
"I prefer to give you real costs," Mattis said citing the delay to reporting dollar estimates.
Mattis added that the deployment would not affect military readiness for other operations, saying the missions being conducted near the border were useful training for logistics and forward basing of units and that "in that respect, it is helping us."
After departing McAllen, Mattis was scheduled to meet with the Philippine ambassador at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming to mark the beginning of the transfer of the Balangiga Bells back to Philippine custody, which had been taken as war booty during the Filipino-American War in 1901.
During the war, villagers in Balangiga launched an ambush that led to the deaths of nearly 50 U.S. soldiers while they slept or were cooking breakfast. Soldiers who believed the three church bells were rung to signal the attack seized them as trophies. This was part of a series of reprisal killings against males over the age of 10 that led to the deaths of over 2,000 people.
The bells had been on display in South Korea and Wyoming until Mattis authorized their return following pressure from groups in the Philippines and U.S. groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes
|
|
Tweet |
|
|
|
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
