President Donald Trump claimed that up to 15,000 US troops could be sent to the border to deal with the group of approximately 3,500 migrants heading toward the US through Mexico, CNN reported.

The migrants, who are more than 800 miles away from the US, are weeks away from arriving at the border, where many reportedly plan to follow legal procedures and seek asylum.

"As far as the caravan is concerned our military is out, we have about 5,000-8 (thousand), we'll go up to anywhere between 10 (thousand) and 15,000 military personnel on top of border patrol, ICE and everybody else on the border," Trump told reporters Wednesday.

The Pentagon has already announced 5,200 active duty troops are being sent to the border and has identified an additional 2,000 that could go. There are currently 2,100 National Guardsmen on duty at the border and an additional 2,000 could be called upon to go if needed.

Shortly after Trump spoke, the Pentagon released a statement saying "The number of troops deployed will change each day as military forces flow into the operating area, but the initial estimate is that the DOD will have more than 7,000 troops supporting DHS across California, Arizona and Texas."