Pentagon sending 5,200 troops to border

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said it's sending 5,200 troops to the Southwest border in an extraordinary military operation ordered up just a week before midterm elections in which US President Donald Trump has put a sharp focus on Central American migrants moving north in slow-moving caravans that are still hundreds of kilometers from the United States.

The number of troops being deployed is more than double the 2,000 who are in Syria fighting the Islamic State group.

Trump, eager to keep voters focused on illegal immigration in the lead-up to the elections, stepped up his dire warnings about the caravans, saying on Twitter: "This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!"