President Trump on Tuesday said the military will be sent to guard the U.S.-Mexico border, further escalating his rhetoric on illegal immigration but offering few details on how and when such a plan might be implemented.

Trump has for days taken to Twitter and used his public remarks to warn of threats posed by immigration, but the prospect of sending military personnel to the southern border added a new dimension to Trump’s strategy, which had centered on threats to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement and pressuring Congress to send him funding for a border wall.

“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. That’s a big step,” Trump said Tuesday during a meeting at the White House with the leaders of three Baltic nations. “We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing and, by the way, never showing up for court.”

Later at a news conference with these leaders, Trump said he would soon meet with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to discuss having the U.S. military deployed to the border.

“I think it is something we have to do,” Trump said.

Sending troops to the border is not unprecedented and has been done by previous presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who utilized National Guard troops when concerns over security or humanitarian problems arose.

It was not immediately clear why Border Patrol would need help from the Pentagon at this time. The number of people crossing illegally into the country has plummeted over the past decade and is at the lowest level since 1971. In recent days, the president has emphasized the hard-line immigration stance he campaigned on as his conservative base has shown signs of growing impatience that he has not fulfilled some of his top promises, such as securing the funding to build a border wall.

One adviser who speaks often to Trump said that the president has been concerned about his political base since he signed into law last month a spending bill that did not fund the wall or some of his other immigration plans and that he has carefully monitored recent criticism, particularly on Fox News. Since then, the adviser said, he has been trying to appeal to his supporters through tougher rhetoric on border security and pushing protectionist trade policies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-threatens-foreign-aid-to-honduras-as-he-continues-focus-on-caravan-of-migrants/2018/04/03/bdd9ac92-3735-11e8-b57c-9445cc4dfa5e_story.html?utm_term=.469385f14d66