As President Donald Trump directs thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in a show of military force against an approaching caravan of migrants from Central America, preliminary intelligence assessments are preparing for encounters with a litany of groups from unregulated militias to transcontinental criminal organizations, according to documents obtained by Newsweek. 
 
 In a powerpoint presentation from Saturday, the Joint Force Land Component Commander Threat Working Group prepared an intelligence assessment for Pentagon officials as they begin to carry out Operation Faithful Patriot, the interagency operation with the Department of Defense and led by the Department of Homeland Security, that started Tuesday. 
 
 The presentation is marked as “UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO//LES,” meaning, the documents are for official use only and are law enforcement sensitive. Newsweek obtained the operational planning documents earlier this week from two different Defense Department sources that have direct knowledge of U.S. Northern Command's mission on the southern U.S. border. 
 
 The documents take a detailed look at the four-point of entry locations spread across the southwest border and assesses where the caravan might travel. Two areas of concern to U.S. intelligence officials involving points of entry and transcontinental criminal organizations is the point of entry in Brownsville, Texas, where the Rio Grande River is located between Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and the San Ysidro point of entry, separating San Diego, California from Tijuana, Mexico. 
 
 The assessment underscored news reports that combatant commanders might encounter unregulated militia members along the southern border in alleged support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. 
 
 “Estimated 200 unregulated armed militia members currently operating along the southwest border. Reported incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments. They operate under the guise of citizen patrols supporting CBP [Customs and Border Protection] primarily between POEs [Points of Entry],” according to the documents. 
 
 The documents go onto highlight historical protests that support immigrants crossing the U.S. border. Those protests in some cases have shut down points of entry controlled by Customs and Border Protection, but the assessment concludes that protests are “normally peaceful unless extreme right or left groups attend.” 
 
 Militia groups and far-right activists have already announced plans to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border with the aim of preventing caravan members from entering the country. 
 
 With the caravan still hundreds of miles away, it is unclear how many militia members will turn up. Among groups determined to help fortify the border, are members of the Minuteman Project. 
 
 Historically, Minutemen were once known as civilian colonists who organized to form self-trained militia groups during the American Revolution. Today, however, the Minuteman Project is an activist organization, which was founded in August 2004 by Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox and describes itself as a “citizen’s Neighborhood Watch on the southern border.” 
 
 Minutemen Project National Political Director Howie Morgan told Newsweek on Wednesday that the organization hoped to have its members out in full force at the border before the coming caravans arrive. 
 
 “We believe our nation is under attack by foreigners who refuse to accept the rule of law on how to become a citizen in the United States,” Morgan said. 
 
 Asked whether he believes that applies to migrants who arrive at official ports of entry at the border to make asylum claims through the U.S.’s long-standing legal process, Morgan said he believed Central Americans should make those claims “in their own country.” 
 
 “Instead of following the rules, they are using our nation’s laws as a shortcut to get in front of the line,” Morgan claimed. 
 
 To obtain asylum through the U.S.'s affirmative asylum process, however, asylum seekers must be "physically present in the United States," according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency. Asylum seekers also are eligible to apply for asylum regardless of how they arrived in the country or what their current immigration status is. 
 
 On Monday, the Minuteman Project issued a call to action, asking “Minutemen and Minutewomen” to “converge on the U.S.-Mexico border immediately to support U.S. law enforcement and military organizations already there.” 
 
 “Your presence is needed along the 2,000-mile border from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas at any time for the next 90 days,” the organization said in a statement issued on its website. 
 
 Morgan said he was not sure how many Minuteman members would arrive at the border in the weeks ahead. However, he said he hoped to see people come out in “thousands,” but said that may be unlikely given that the government has already made strong efforts to fortify the southern border. 
 
 Of those who do arrive, Morgan said that members have been warned to follow the rule of law and focus their efforts on reporting migrants to Border Patrol authorities. However, he did say that he expected members would be armed. 
 
 “We understand how dangerous the border can be and we certainly want to ensure that all of our volunteers are safe,” he said. “If they are entitled and in an area where it is legal to carry guns, it is their right to do so,” he said. 
 
 On Wednesday, Trump announced that his administration could send as many as 15,000 troops to the southern border in anticipation of the thousands of migrants currently making their way to the U.S. with several caravans departing from Honduras and El Salvador. 
 
 Applauding the Trump administration’s controversial crackdown on immigration, the Minuteman Project spokesperson said that while the organization is “always looking to have a better security and immigration program in the United States,” Trump has “shown he is fighting to keep those efforts moving in the right direction.” 
 
 In its call to action for supporters to make their way to the southern border, the Minuteman Project tells members: “Remember, defending your nation’s sovereignty and its heralded stature as ‘a nation of laws’ does not make you a racist, a bigot, a xenophobe, a Nazi, a fascist… or any of the various epithets commonly used by our adversaries to falsely deface our patriotic virtue. 
 
 “The real fascists and xenophobes are those who openly hate us because we love our country just as we love our families and our communities,” the message continued. 
 
 It also warns members not to speak with news outlets, reminding them that “most newspaper reporters” will be “hostile to your presence on the border,” aside from Fox News, and One America News. ||||| Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher in Falfurrias, Texas, says he won’t let outside militia onto his property and he doesn’t think such groups will be trusted by most area landowners. (Dominic Bracco II/Prime/FTWP) 
 
 Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border. 
 
 “We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,” said Shannon McGauley, a bail bondsman in the Dallas suburbs who is president of the Texas Minutemen. McGauley said he was preparing to head for the Rio Grande in coming days. 
 
 “We’ve proved ourselves before, and we’ll prove ourselves again,” he said. 
 
 McGauley and others have been roused by the president’s call to restore order and defend the country against what Trump has called “an invasion,” as thousands of Central American migrants advance slowly through southern Mexico toward the U.S. border. Trump has insisted that “unknown Middle Easterners,” “very tough fighters,” and large numbers of violent criminals are traveling among the women, children and families heading north on foot. 
 
 [Migrant caravan: What Trump’s threats sound like to the Central Americans trudging north] 
 
 The Texas Minutemen, according to McGauley, have 100 volunteers en route to the Rio Grande who want to help stop the migrants, with more likely on the way. 
 
 “I can’t put a number on it,” McGauley said. “My phone’s been ringing nonstop for the last seven days. You got other militias, and husbands and wives, people coming from Oregon, Indiana. We’ve even got two from Canada.” 
 
 Asked whether his group planned to deploy with weapons, McGauley laughed. “This is Texas, man,” he said. 
 
 And yet, the prospect of armed vigilantes showing up beside thousands of U.S. troops — along with Border Patrol agents, police officers and migrants — is considered serious enough that military planners have issued warnings to Army commanders. 
 
 According to military planning documents obtained by Newsweek, the military is concerned about the arrival of “unregulated militia members self-deploying to the border in alleged support” of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 
 
 [Army assessment of migrant caravans undercuts Trump’s rhetoric] 
 
 The assessment estimates that 200 militia members could show up. “They operate under the guise of citizen patrols,” the report said, while warning of “incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments.” 
 
 The military report provided no further details about the alleged thefts. 
 
 Manuel Padilla Jr., the top Border Patrol official in the agency’s Rio Grande Valley sector, the nation’s busiest for illegal crossings, said he has not issued any instructions to agents in the field or to landowners whose properties are adjacent to the river. But he plans to meet with community members in the coming week, he said, to address their concerns. 
 
 “We don’t have any specific information about the militias,” said Padilla, reached by phone along the border. “We have seen them in the past, and when things start getting really busy, we have to make sure to let the community know they’re out there.” 
 
 “But they’re doing that on their own,” Padilla said. 
 
 [Trump vows to block asylum seekers in caravan but offers few details] 
 
 McGauley said that in addition to weapons and camping gear, his group will have night-vision goggles and aerial drones with thermal sensing equipment, capable of operating in darkness. He emphasized that the group would report any suspicious activity to authorities and would heed any instructions from Border Patrol agents or military personnel. 
 
 Several landowners in the area said they do not want the militias around. 
 
 Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher who lives an hour north of the border in Falfurrias, said that he will not let militia members from outside the area onto his property and that he doubts most area landowners would trust outsiders. 
 
 “They are a bunch of guys with a big mouth and no substance to them,” said Vickers, a Republican who heads the 300-strong Texas Border Volunteers. The group doesn’t call itself a militia, although it patrols ranchland to intercept migrants who hike through the brush to attempt to avoid Border Patrol checkpoints. The group uses ATVs, night-vision goggles, spotlights and trained dogs. 
 
 “People on the [Rio Grande] have been calling us,” Vickers said. His group is in a “holding pattern,” he said, adding, “We can have 100 volunteers in a hot area in four to eight hours. 
 
 “We’ve already talked to a bunch of landowners who wanted to know if we’ll be operating if the Border Patrol can’t be there to keep their property from being vandalized and their crops from being messed up.” 
 
 “We’re ready to move,” he said. 
 
 [South Texas county faces wave of migrant deaths] 
 
 Others in South Texas are less enthusiastic. 
 
 Lucy Kruse, 96, said immigrants often stop on her property as they walk through the bush country, sometimes breaking into a small cabin to sleep. Her family’s ranch lies amid the thorny mesquite brush, cactus and tawny dry grass 80 miles north of the border. 
 
 As the migrant caravans head north, she and other landowners in the area worry that the number of trespassers walking through their ranches will increase dramatically. But many say the militias coming to the area also pose a threat. 
 
 “I will not let militia on my land,” Kruse said. “They’re civilians stepping into a situation where the Border Patrol is supposed to be in control and make decisions. They could damage property or harm workers. I would guess they would be trigger-happy. If they shot someone, they might just say the person they shot was reaching for a gun.” 
 
 Joe Metz, 80, lives in what looks like a pastoral tropical paradise near Mission, a town of 84,000 in the Rio Grande Valley. Tall, green sugar cane grows beside the wide river, and citrus trees dot the sandy small hillocks away from the banks. 
 
 The Rio Grande is less than a mile from Metz’s living room window, and a section of border wall crosses his property. He has watched for years as border-crossers ford the river and walk onto his land, their first step on American soil. The wall has slowed the flow significantly, he said, but between 50 and 100 people a day still cross through the farm next door. 
 
 He worries that the caravan, which includes many women and children, will surge through the area, but he doesn’t want armed vigilantes on his farm. 
 
 “The militia just needs to stay where they are,” said Metz, a Republican. “We don’t need fanatical people. We don’t need anybody here with guns. Why do they have guns? I have dealt with illegals for 30 years, and all of them have been scared, asking for help. The militias need to stay up north where they belong. We have no use for them here. They might shoot someone or hurt someone.” 
 
 [Trump on throwing rocks at the border: Military will consider that a threat] 
 
 The heir to the state’s largest and most influential ranch said he thinks the militias could pose a threat of their own. Stephen J. “Tio” Kleberg, who has lived most of his life on the 825,000-acre King Ranch outside of Kingsville, said he will allow federal and state law enforcement and the military onto his property, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island, but he won’t let private militia beyond the gates. 
 
 “I don’t think they have a governing body,” he said. “They are independent and not authorized by anybody. It could lead to individuals taking action without someone in authority supervising. I think that could be dangerous. 
 
 “I think if the [caravan members] get across the river, they need to be caught and sent back,” said Kleberg, who wears a bushy handlebar mustache and chews an unlit cigar. 
 
 “Once they get on U.S. soil, they need to be stopped and detained. We don’t have enough Border Patrol, ICE and Highway Patrol to handle them. If we get 2,000 or 3,000 people, we will need the military,” Kleberg said. 
 
 Correction: In a prior version of this story, Texas rancher Stephen J. “Tio” Kleberg said he would allow private militias onto his property to confront migrants crossing into the United States illegally. Subsequent to publication, Kleberg said he misunderstood the questions he was asked and requested that his comments be amended to reflect that he will not allow militia groups onto his ranch. ||||| CLOSE The Defense Department says it's sending 5,200 active duty troops to 'harden' the southern border against a migrant caravan making its way through Mexico (Oct 29) AP 
 
 National Guard troops in San Luis, Ariz., walk near the U.S.-Mexico border on April 18, 2018. (Photo: Nick Oza, The Arizona Republic) 
 
 WASHINGTON – Just one week shy of the midterm elections, the Pentagon will deploy at least 5,200 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to prevent members of a migrant caravan from illegally entering the country, the Department of Defense announced Monday. 
 
 About 2,100 National Guard troops already were fanned out across the border under an order from President Donald Trump this year. In recent weeks, the president has been warning repeatedly about the dangers posed by the caravan of mostly Central American migrants, which stands at about 3,500 people after 1,700 of them filed asylum applications in Mexico or accepted assistance to return to their home countries. 
 
 Administration officials said last week that they were considering a plan to send up to 1,000 active-duty troops to the border, but that deployment, dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot, will now surpass 5,200, said Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Northern Command. He said the number of troops could rise depending on the demands placed on U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents manning the border. 
 
 "That is just the start of this operation," O’Shaughnessy said during a news conference at CBP headquarters in Washington on Monday. "Border security is national security." 
 
 The troops will not conduct law enforcement activities, but some will be armed as they provide support to Border Patrol agents along the border. 
 
 CLOSE Central American migrants, hoping to eventually reach U.S. soil, waded across parts of the Suchiate River to enter into Mexico from Guatemala. USA TODAY 
 
 National Guard units have already been assisting by monitoring video surveillance feeds to direct Border Patrol agents manning the vast stretches between U.S. ports of entry. The new deployment of active-duty troops will include helicopter and other aviation units armed with night vision technology to help identify anyone trying to illegally cross the border, and to deploy CBP agents to apprehend them, O’Shaughnessy said. 
 
 “We will be able to spot and identify groups, and rapidly deploy,” he said. 
 
 The operation will also include engineering units to build temporary barriers, lay out concertina wire at ports of entry, and construct temporary housing for U.S. personnel, he said. About 800 troops are already en route to Texas from Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, and more will follow this week headed toward Arizona and California. 
 
 Typically, migrant caravans travel in numbers to seek safety and avoid risks such as kidnap, rape and extortion. When the last migrant caravan reached the U.S. border in April, a majority of people presented themselves at ports of entry to request asylum, a legal way to enter the United States. 
 
 A Homeland Security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans were not yet finalized, said the president is expected to deliver a speech this week to outline further actions to halt the migrant caravan, which could include limiting, or halting, the ability of migrants to request asylum. That move would be predicated on national security arguments similar to those used to enact Trump’s travel ban last year on certain individuals from Muslim-dominated countries and would meet the same legal challenges by immigration advocacy and civil rights organizations. 
 
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined on Monday to detail other aspects of the new border security plan, and would not confirm whether Trump will deliver a speech on the topic this week. 
 
 "There are a lot of options that are being discussed right now," she said. 
 
 Trump on Monday again claimed that the migrant caravan may have "many gang members" and "some very bad people." Reporters from USA TODAY and other media outlets, including The Associated Press, have not seen the presence of such individuals. Supporters of the caravan have denied such allegations. Many of the migrants are families traveling with children. 
 
 "Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process," he tweeted. "This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you." 
 
 Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018 
 
 Critics accused Trump of using the Pentagon as a tool in his political game by drumming up anti-immigrant fears to rally his political base in the lead-up to the midterm elections. 
 
 "At a moment we need a president that helps the nation heal and unite, we have one that is ripping us apart and using racism, xenophobia and antisemitism as strategic weapons in the run up to the elections," tweeted Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group. 
 
 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, who has 16,500 Border Patrol agents along the southwest border, said the additional manpower is needed because the region is in a state of crisis. He said an average of 1,900 people a day have been arriving illegally or without official documents for the last three weeks, straining his agency's resources to process illegal border crossers and process legal ones. 
 
 Monday's news conference did not address speeding up the process by which migrants can request asylum, which they are legally allowed to do. McAleenan said on Monday that Central American migrants were already given an opportunity to request asylum in Mexico, calling into question their motivations behind ignoring those requests and marching on toward the U.S. 
 
 "Our message to the organizers and the participants in the caravan is simple: As the president and (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen) Nielsen have made clear, we will not allow a large group to enter the United States in an illegal and unsafe manner," he said. 
 
 The administration's moves are the latest to show a robust response to the migrant caravan as the midterm elections draw closer. Nielsen on Friday showed off a recently completed section of border fence in Calexico, California, that including a plaque proclaiming the "completion of the first section of President Trump’s border wall." That section had been deemed a priority and funded during the Obama administration. 
 
 On the same day, McAleenan toured ports of entry south of San Diego and explained how additional troops would help secure the border from any attempted rush by the migrants to rush the border. But McAleenan, who described the oncoming caravan as a "law enforcement situation," conceded that despite the added manpower, his agency has no way to speed up the process by which migrants can legally request asylum. 
 
 That's what happened when the last migrant caravan reached the U.S. border in April – 122 were caught trying to enter the country illegally, but 401 presented themselves at ports of entry to request asylum, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 
 
 Contributing: David Jackson and Tom Vanden Brook in Washington. 
 
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– Troops headed for the US-Mexico border aren't just aiming to help prevent migrant entry—they have unregulated militias and criminal organizations on their minds, too. According to planning documents obtained by Newsweek, the Department of Defense is aware of nearly 200 armed militias already operating along the southwest border. "Reported incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments," reads an intelligence assessment for the Pentagon by the Joint Force Land Component Commander Threat Working Group. "They operate under the guise of citizen patrols supporting CBP [Customs and Border Protection] primarily between POEs [Points of Entry]." The documents analyze four points of entry including one in Brownsville, Texas, and another in the San Ysidro district of San Diego, Calif. The assessment jibes with media reports that militia members are already heading for the border, the Washington Post reports. They include the Texas Minutemen, who apparently have 100 armed volunteers going to the Rio Grande. "I can’t put a number on it," says Shannon McGauley, who leads the group. "My phone’s been ringing nonstop for the last seven days." Meanwhile, members of another group—the Patriots of the Constitution militia—arrived last week in Columbus, New Mexico, per the Albuquerque Journal. Yet the military planners expect the migrant caravan to reduce in size and contain "no terrorist infiltration," per the documents. They also say the migrants could trigger a "balloon effect" on smuggling if traffickers take advantage of the diversion. (While providing troops, the Pentagon refused one request from Trump.)