Pentagon to send 1,500 active-duty troops to Mexico border

2025-01-22 20:24:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Pentagon to send 1,500 active-duty troops to Mexico border

Barbed wire on the border between the US and Mexico

The Pentagon will begin deploying up to 1,500 active-duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, U.S. officials said. The move is part of plans that President Donald Trump has outlined in executive orders signed after taking office to combat illegal immigration.

Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses is expected to sign orders for the deployment of soldiers on Wednesday, but it is still unclear when the soldiers would be deployed and whether their total number could change.

The officials who reported on the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement of the soldiers' deployment has not yet been made public, the AP reports.

The active-duty troops would join the approximately 2,500 members of the U.S. National Guard and Reserves currently stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border. There are currently no active-duty troops on the border.

The forces are expected to be used to support Border Patrol agents with logistics, transportation and barrier construction. They have performed similar tasks in the past, when Trump and former President Joe Biden sent active-duty troops to the border.

Under U.S. law, troops are prohibited from carrying out law enforcement duties at the border, but that could change. Through executive orders, Trump has instructed incoming secretaries of defense and interior to report within 90 days whether they believe the 1807 law should be repealed. If so, the troops could be used for civilian law enforcement duties on American soil.

Trump has signaled plans to deploy the military along the border since taking office. In one of his first orders on Monday, Trump directed his defense secretary to present a plan for the border and how to combat “massive illegal immigration.”

During his inauguration speech as president, Trump declared that he would "declare a national emergency at our southern border. Illegal entry will be stopped immediately and the process of returning millions and millions of undocumented criminals to the countries they came from will begin."

In his first term as president, Trump ordered active-duty soldiers to be sent to the border to help with security after a caravan of migrants from Mexico headed toward the US in 2018.

In orders signed on Monday, Trump suggested that the military would assist the Department of the Interior with "detention facilities, transportation [including aircraft] and other logistical services."

Active-duty U.S. soldiers are prohibited by law from arresting or detaining people at the border unless the president repeals a 19th-century law that allows the president to send active-duty soldiers and military units to respond to unrest in any U.S. state.

In 2018, more than 7,000 active-duty troops were deployed to Texas, Arizona and California, including military police, an attack helicopter battalion, communications and medical units, combat engineers and other units. At the time, the Pentagon said the troops would not be performing law enforcement duties, so their deployment did not violate any laws./REL