WASHINGTON — Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said the deployment of additional active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border “is just the beginning” — even as border crossings remain at their lowest point in months.
The Pentagon will immediately send 1,500 ground personnel to monitor the southwest border and crew additional helicopters that are also being sent, he said late Wednesday.
Troops are also expected to build temporary and permanent barriers along the border, and provide military airlifts to the Department of Homeland Security to deport up to 5,000 immigrants who lack specific legal authorization from the San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas, areas, he said.
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President Donald Trump declared an emergency at the border Monday, among issuing several other immigration-related executive orders.
Salesses said the shift means a 60% increase in active-duty ground forces at the border. Former President Joe Biden had already sent troops to the border in 2023 as crossings at that time surged. About 2,500 troops are already there.
Encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have been on a steady downward trend since March 2024 and remain at the lowest levels since 2022, according to data tracked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The agency’s term “encounters” encompasses people who attempt to cross between official ports of entry, as well as families, individuals and unaccompanied children who arrive at official entry points seeking humanitarian protection.
The U.S. military, by law, is prohibited from being used as a police force within the United States, so troops’ duties at the border will largely be intelligence gathering and logistics, including transportation.
Among his executive actions Monday, Trump ordered leadership at the Pentagon and Homeland Security to report back in 90 days on whether Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that allows the military to begin domestic law enforcement.
U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM, will be in charge of duties at the border. The command, which has few permanently assigned forces, leads missions that focus on homeland defense and civil support when directed by the president or secretary of defense. The U.S. Transportation Command and the National Guard Bureau will assist.
“President Trump directed action from the Department of Defense on securing our nation’s borders and made clear he expects immediate results,” Salesses said in a statement. “That is exactly what our military is doing under his leadership.”
The Pentagon referred all questions to Northern Command. Specific military units will be announced “as soon as deployment orders have been released,” USNORTHCOM said in a statement Thursday. The command did not answer a question about where troops will be stationed.