Washington warns new migrant 'caravan' against crossing border

The United States warned Tuesday it was prepared to prevent a new "caravan" of Central American migrants from entering the country, with US President Donald Trump tweeting that more troops have been sent to the border.

The warnings came as Trump was preparing for a State of the Union speech to Congress that was sure to feature his so far unsuccessful battle to win funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border.

"Tremendous numbers of people are coming up through Mexico in the hopes of flooding our Southern Border. We have sent additional military. We will build a Human Wall if necessary. If we had a real Wall, this would be a non-event!" Trump said on Twitter.

Republicans should be prepared "to do whatever is necessary" for border security, given the opposition of Democrats to the wall, he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen followed with a statement saying that some "2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas."
On Sunday, the Pentagon said it was sending an additional 3,750 troops to the border. That would bring the total number of US troops there to 4,330,
Nielsen said the caravans "are the result of Congress's inexcusable failure to fully fund a needed physical barrier and unwillingness to fix outdated laws that act as an enormous magnet for illegal aliens."