Pentagon plans expanded role for military at the border

The Pentagon is looking to increase the military's role at the border and allow several hundred troops to interact directly with migrants, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Friday is expected to approve a request from the Department of Homeland Security of 300 waivers for military lawyers, cooks and drivers. The waivers would exempt them from the policy that prevents interaction with migrants at so that they can assist in deportation hearings, drive migrants to detention facilities, and hand out drinks and snacks while law enforcement accompany them, the Post says. The Pentagon previously approved one similar waiver in recent months so troops could provide migrants medical care.

The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the military for being used for law enforcement purposes, placing restrictions on what those who President Trump has deployed to the southern border can legally do. This is something Trump has bemoaned, saying in April, "our military, don't forget, can't act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy," reports Vox.

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The White House earlier this month weighed whether members of the military could be used to build and run detention camps, NBC News reported.