Trump's plan to send troops to the border could cost more than $200 million by the end of the year

: Members of the Central American migrant caravan move towards their destination of the United States border on November 03, 2018 in Sayula de Aleman, Mexico.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

published 3 November 2018

President Trump's plan to send up to 15,000 troops to the southern border to meet the caravan of mostly Honduran migrants slowly making its way through Mexico could cost more than $200 million by the end of the year, The Washington Post reports.

The Post story cites Pentagon figures as well as outside analysis, and it notes costs could go higher still if troops stay past mid-December. Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, labeled the plan "wasteful" on Twitter:

Some 7,000 strong at its peak, the caravan is expected to dwindle to about 1,400 people by the time it reaches the U.S. border several weeks from now, per Pentagon estimates.