About 15 thousand troops can be taken to the US-Mexicon border.

“They are a dangerous group of people” -- the president said, after earlier calling immigrants “bad men and gang members. ”

But a woman from El Salvador, who is part of the group of immigrants traveling north, said she wants Mr. Trump to know that she and the others are not “criminalila”.

In Search of the Work

We're not going to steal, or hurt anybody. We want to work with our hands and sweat to earn some money. We pray to God that we can get to the U.S. and find a job there.

The figure of 15,000 people given by the president is much greater than the approximately 5 thousand and 200 active soldiers the Pentagon is taking to the border, along with 2,000 and 100 members of the National Guard, currently on the border. The U.S. Department of Defense told the Voice of America that about 2,000 additional troops would be in position to come to the aid of active troops at the border.

This would bring the total number of troops deployed at the southern United States border to more than the number of Americans struggling with anti-terrorism groups in Iraq and Syria. There are about 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, speaking at a press conference with journalists at the Pentagon, denied that the disposal of active troops at the border is a maneuver aimed at helping the Republicans elections next week for Congress.

“We don't deal with such maneuvers in our department”- Mattis said. “The support we give to the Secretary of Homeland Security is practical, based on the request of the customs commissioner and the border police. ”

Even the president denied that his comments on immigration are intended to stir fear, while the Republicans face the possibility of losing congress control of the Democrats.

American troops assigned to assist in border security are prohibited by law from engaging in domestic law enforcement actions, such as arresting border-crossing immigrants.

Defence officials told the Voice of America that military personnel will assist border patrol agents, establish thorn wire fences and build temporary housing for border agents when necessary.

A Pentagon official said some of the troops may have been armed, given where they will be taken to the border and the work they will be tasked with.

The main convoy of poor immigrants from Central America is still located in Mexico, more than a thousand and 600 miles [600 km] from the United States. It would take them weeks to reach the U.S. Mexican border.

On Wednesday, President Trump said in a tweet, that there are also some “wild fighters”, which “have clashed strongly with the Mexican police.

He referred to several reports Sunday that a group of immigrants forcibly crossed the border between Guatemala and Mexico and clashed with police. A number of police were injured and an immigrant was killed in this crash, but the details are not clear.

Mr. Trump also criticised Mexico, saying Mexican soldiers “were disabled, or didn't want to stop” immigrants. But White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told the television told Fox News that Mexico “has taken extraordinary measures”, stopping cars and forcing immigrants to walk, which has slowed their advance.

Currently, there are four different convoys headed towards the United States border: the first group, which left San Pedro Sula of Honduras, more than two weeks ago; the second convoy, which left Guatemala to Mexico this week and two new convoys that have just been launched by El Salvador.

“We are people who work hard and if we immigration into the US, we want to be treated as human beings”, a member of the group launched by El Salvador said.

In all, the number of immigrants heading toward the United States border is more than 7 thousand people, hoping to escape violence and seeking opportunities that they do not have in their country.

But President Trump says that the United States border is the holy “” and reiterated his call Wednesday, that anyone who is due to be immigration to the United States should do so legally. / VOA