U.S. troops are laying down barbed-wire fence along the Texas side of the Rio Grande River alongside Customs and Borer Patrol officers as approximately 7,000 immigrants travel northward through Mexico.
The Defense Department told The New York Post that the troops are laying down around 1,000 feet of fencing below the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, which crosses into Mexico.
A Border Patrol spokesperson told the Post that the fencing is part of “necessary preparations” for the caravans approaching the U.S.
“I saw that beautiful barbed wire going up,” President Trump said Saturday campaign rally in Montana, the Post reports. “Beautiful sight.”
Trump deployed 5,200 U.S. troops to the border last week, around 900 of which have arrived, according to the newspaper.
The main caravan of about 4,000 immigrants is making its way by foot through Veracruz, Mexico, toward the border with the U.S.
A new caravan of about 1,000 to 1,500 people pushed across the Suchiate River between Guatemala and Mexico to illegally breach the Mexican border last Friday.
Other migrants had earlier fought through police lines on a bridge over the river, forcing their way into the country there.
After that break through, Mexico has bolstered its forces at the border with hundreds of police, boats and helicopters, which proved unsuccessful in stopping the latest caravan.