The Pentagon is set to deploy up to 1,500 active-duty troops to assist in securing the southern U.S. border in the near future, as announced by U.S. officials on Wednesday. This development follows the framework established by President Trump’s executive orders early in his administration to intensify immigration enforcement efforts.
Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses was anticipated to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday; however, the specific troops or units involved in the operation have yet to be disclosed, and the final number of deployed forces may vary. There is uncertainty surrounding whether these troops will engage in law enforcement activities, which would represent a significant shift in their role after decades of restrictions.
According to officials who requested anonymity prior to the official announcement, these active-duty personnel will complement the approximately 2,500 National Guard and Reserve members already stationed at the border, where there are currently no active-duty troops present.
These troops are primarily expected to provide support to Border Patrol agents through logistical assistance, transportation, and construction of security barriers. This mirrors previous deployments during both the Trump and Biden administrations when military personnel were dispatched to the border for similar support tasks.
Under the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces are legally restricted from performing law enforcement duties, though this may change. Trump has issued an executive order directing the incoming Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to assess within 90 days whether the Insurrection Act of 1807 should be invoked. If enacted, this would permit the use of military troops for civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.
The Insurrection Act was last utilized in 1992 in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King.
This anticipated deployment represents an initial step in Trump’s vigorous push to expand military involvement along the U.S.-Mexico border during his first week in office. In one of his opening executive orders, he charged the defense secretary with developing a strategy to “seal the borders” and combat “illegal mass migration.”
On the same day Trump dismissed the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, it was announced that the Coast Guard would increase its presence in the Gulf of Mexico, aligning with Trump’s directive to rename the waterway to “Gulf of America.”
In his inaugural address, Trump stated, “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 their original countries.” This reflects a long-standing trend of deploying military personnel to the border to tackle migration issues, drug trafficking, and transnational crime since the 1990s.
In his executive orders signed on Monday, Trump indicated that the military’s role would encompass providing services such as “detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistical support” to the Department of Homeland Security.
Currently, there are around 20,000 Border Patrol agents assigned primarily to the southern border, while also covering the northern border with Canada. Traditionally, their responsibilities involve intercepting drug smugglers and undocumented individuals attempting to cross the border undetected.
In more recent occurrences, these agents have faced challenges as migrants have increasingly sought refuge by approaching Border Patrol directly, which has strained the agency’s resources. During his first term, Trump deployed over 7,000 active-duty troops to the border in reaction to a migrant caravan moving from Central America to the U.S. in 2018.
During that time, the Pentagon assured that active-duty members would not partake in law enforcement; instead, they assisted in transporting Border Patrol agents and were involved with erecting barriers and providing communication and security support.
The military also supplied essential services including medical assistance, meals, and temporary shelter for Border Patrol agents working in the field.
It remains uncertain whether the administration will instruct military bases to be repurposed for housing detained migrants. Previous instances have seen such facilities used for this purpose, including during the 2021 evacuation of Afghan refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, which overwhelmed the support infrastructure.
In 2018, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas to brace for accommodating as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, though this space ultimately was not required due to insufficient infrastructure to support those numbers.
In a notable development, the Biden administration in March 2021 approved the utilization of Fort Bliss, Texas, as a detention center for up to 10,000 unaccompanied children amid surging border crossings. However, this facility rapidly became overwhelmed, with far too few case managers available to assist the influx of children, which resulted in exposure to harsh conditions and other adverse circumstances, as reported by the inspector general in 2022.
