Pentagon to deploy up to 1,500 active-duty troops to secure US-Mexico border

The Pentagon plans to deploy up to 1,500 active-duty troops to bolster security at the southern border in the coming days, according to the Associated Press report_,_ citing US officials on Wednesday.

The active-duty forces will join around 2,500 National Guard and Reserve personnel already stationed at the southern border, where currently no active-duty troops are deployed_,_ added the report.

The move aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at tightening immigration controls shortly after he took office.

Acting Defence Secretary Robert Salesses was scheduled to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday, though it is still unclear which specific troops or units will be involved, and the total number may change. It remains uncertain whether these troops will take on law enforcement roles, which would represent a significant shift in their traditional duties not seen in recent history, added the report, adding, the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made.

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These troops are expected to assist border patrol agents with logistics, transportation, and the construction of barriers, tasks they have performed in the past during deployments under both President Trump and former President Joe Biden.

While troops are legally prohibited from engaging in law enforcement activities at the border, this may change, added the report.

Trump has instructed the incoming Secretary of Defence and Homeland Security chief to evaluate within 90 days whether the Insurrection Act of 1807 should be invoked, which would permit military personnel to participate in civilian law enforcement on US soil.

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This anticipated deployment marks an early step in Trump’s long-promised strategy to increase military presence along the border during his first week in office. In one of his initial orders on Monday, Trump directed the Defense Secretary to devise a plan to “seal the borders” and counter “unlawful mass migration.”

On Tuesday, just as Trump fired the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, the service announced it was surging more cutter ships, aircraft and personnel to the “Gulf of America” —  another nod to the president’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump said during his inaugural address on Monday that “I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came.”

In his first term, Trump also ordered active duty troops to the border to help the Department of Homeland Security and border control agents, in response to a caravan of migrants slowly making its way through Mexico toward the United States in 2018.

In executive orders signed Monday, Trump suggested the military would help DHS with “detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistics services.”

US active duty troops are forbidden from doing law enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th century federal law. So they can’t arrest or detain people at the border, unless the president acts to invoke the Insurrection Act.

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts.

During the 2018 deployment, more than 7,000 active duty troops were sent to Texas, Arizona and California, including military police, an assault helicopter battalion, various communications, medical and headquarters units, combat engineers, planners and public affairs units.

At the time, the Pentagon was adamant that active duty troops would not do law enforcement. So they spent much of their time transporting border patrol agents to and along the border, helping them erect additional vehicle barriers and fencing along the border, assisting them with communications and providing some security for border agent camps.

The military also provided border patrol agents with medical care, pre-packaged meals and temporary housing.

Normally, in deployments to the border in support of the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon officials request specifics from DHS on what needs to be accomplished, and military leaders then decide what troops should go and how many.

With inputs from agencies