The troops currently help with various night vision equipment, nursemaid illegals and their brats - freeing BP to chase invaders. But the troops do nothing for direct apprehension, and are at the mercy of the heavily armed cartels which control both sides of the border - until US troops take back control, it will be business as usual, no matter the DC rhetoric or laws or walls.
True. They also free up some Border Patrol officers by pulling the shifts watching the cameras, driving trucks, and some flight operations.
There is also an ongoing Engineer component of the deployment, to harden Ports of Entry and emplace concertina. About 200 miles of concertina have been put in.
