“We’ve proved ourselves before, and we’ll prove ourselves again,” he said. President Donald Trump announced this week that he planned to deploy 15,000 troops to the border to meet the caravan he referred to as an “invasion” and he vowed to set up tents to hold Central Americans who he said will likely be denied asylum and be deported. [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. “If we’re getting invaded, shouldn’t we help?” 
 
 Miller called the migrant families in the caravan a “decoy” for gang members trying to sneak into the country. The caravan appears headed for Texas. 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.  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. “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. Morgan said he was not sure how many Minuteman members would arrive at the border in the weeks ahead. “A woman from Florida was in tears calling me, thought she was going to die,” he said. He would not say how many militia members were in Columbus, but several people in the village said it was less than a handful of volunteers. “We don’t have the authority to touch, corral, interfere. “If they are entitled and in an area where it is legal to carry guns, it is their right to do so,” he said. The presentation is marked as “UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO//LES,” meaning, the documents are for official use only and are law enforcement sensitive. “I don’t think they have a governing body,” he said. “Albuquerque is a lot more dangerous than this place ever thought of being,” said Ferguson, though he acknowledged that he had never visited. “We are aware a group of people have arrived in New Mexico with the goal of ‘patrolling’ the border but they are not working in conjunction with the Border Patrol,” according to a statement from the El Paso Border Patrol sector, which includes all of New Mexico.
– 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.)