Trump wants National Guard on Mexican border until wall built

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would probably station a few thousand National Guard troops at the 2,000-mile-long (3,200-km) Mexican border until the wall he wants to build there to keep out illegal immigrants is done.

No funding for the entirety of Trump’s proposed wall is currently in place. Both the Mexican government and the U.S. Congress so far have refused to fully pay for it.

Trump last month signed a federal spending bill from Congress that contained $1.6 billion to pay for six months of work on his wall. He had asked for $25 billion for it.

Asked how many National Guard members he wanted at the border, Trump said: “Anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000.”

He said the administration was looking at how much that would cost but that he had a pretty good idea about it.

“It depends on what we do.”

He added: “We’re looking from 2,000 to 4,000 and probably keep them, or ... a large portion of them, until such time as we get the wall.”