Pentagon denies loosening rules for U.S. troops on Mexican border

The Pentagon is not loosening the strict rules of engagement on the roughly 6,000 American troops deployed to the Mexico border, but will allow limited interactions between those forces and migrants looking to cross into the U.S.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is expected to sign an amendment to the standing rules for U.S. forces, allowing a number of troops to prepare and hand out meals to Central and South American migrants being detained by Customs and Border Protection units, Charlie Summers, Mr. Shanahan’s spokesman, said Friday.

Roughly 100 of the 300 active-duty U.S. troops heading to the southern border will be covered under the new amendment. Nearly 160 of the 300 troops heading to the border will also be tasked with transporting detained migrants from collection points to detention centers on American soil.

Both efforts represent a break from standing Defense Department policy of no contact between American forces and migrants since the beginning of the border security mission earlier this year.

The troops covered under the amendment will be sent to CPB detention centers that have been “literally overwhelmed” by the influx of migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border, Mr. Summers said. “There will be some incidental contact [with migrants] … but it is not their primary mission,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Jamie Davis added.

Mr. Summers made clear the move was not a waiver for American troops to take a larger hand in border security operations, led by the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. troops “are not apprehending anyone” under the new guidance, he insisted.

Recent reports suggested the Trump administration was considering waivers for U.S. forces along the border to take a larger role in law enforcement operations. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump publicly lamented current restrictions on U.S. forces along the border.

“Our military, don’t forget, can’t act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Texas earlier this month. “They have all these horrible laws that the Democrats won’t change [and] they will not change them.”