The migrant caravan is approaching fast, and it’s approaching with over 14,000 members. It’s no small matter.

Previously, Washington noted that it would send 800 troops to join the already 1,000-plus members of the National Guard stationed there to help with logistics. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, that number of troops has been increased to 5,000:

The U.S. military is preparing plans to deploy 5,000 troops to the southwest U.S. border in anticipation of a caravan of would-be asylum seekers and migrants currently moving northward in Mexico, U.S. officials said Monday.

The new figure is a major increase from initial estimates of 800 troops and would represent a military force equal to about one-third the number of customs officials currently working at the border. The military sent about 2,000 National Guard troops to the area earlier this year.

What kind of orders the troops will receive upon the caravan’s arrival is still unclear, but if Washington is seeing fit to send thousands of troops to the border, then it is safe to assume that the response will be forceful, yet the added numbers may do much to dissuade any attempts to cross illegally.

President Trump warned the members of the caravan via Twitter that they needed to turn around and enter the country legally, however it doesn’t seem to have had any effect.

It’s highly likely that the caravan contains terroristic elements within it given the consistency with which people are caught at the border that come from countries with terrorist ties, but by the admission of members from the caravan itself, it does contain members that are criminals or have criminal intent.

RedState will continue to bring you more on this story as it develops.