Pentagon sending additional 1,500 troops to southern border: US official

The Pentagon is sending an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border by the end of the month, a U.S. official told Fox News on Wednesday.

A senior U.S. military official told reporters the 1,500 troops will consist of 1,000 Army personnel and 500 Marines.

“This represents a 60% increase in active-duty ground forces since President Trump was sworn-in Monday,” acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said in a statement late Wednesday.

There are already 2,500 U.S. service members stationed at the southern border. The troops were ordered there in May 2023 during the Biden administration under title 10 authorities, were approved by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and are planned to be in place until the end of FY2025, according to a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson.

The 1,500 additional service members will be deployed to El Paso and San Diego, and are expected to arrive by the end of the week. A “couple hundred” were already en route, though it was not immediately known if they had yet arrived at their destinations.

Pentagon

The U.S. Pentagon is sending an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border by the end of the month, a U.S. official told Fox News on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

The added troops will work on the placement of physical barriers and other border missions, though it has been years since the troops have worked on building physical barriers.

“We will also be providing aerial support, rotary wing and airlift capability and deploying some intelligence analysts for enhanced detection and monitoring activities and potentially some intelligence assets as well,” the senior U.S. military official said.

Some of the troops being deployed to the southern border were on call or actively working in support of the California wildfires, though they were released from that mission and are now being reassigned, the senior official added.

Migrants near the border wall in Arizona

Migrants walk along the US-Mexico border fence in Lukeville, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2023. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Unlike previous border missions, the 500 Marines being sent will be armed and have magazines in their weapons. The Marines are also treating this deployment like any other emergency contingency, a senior Marine official told Fox News.

“Our response will be immediate. We are going in ready to respond. If the cartels shoot at us, we will not stand by,” the Marine official told Fox News Chief National Security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. “We will be taking whatever equipment we would send if a Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, were deploying overseas.”

The first wave of 1,000 Army soldiers and 500 Marines will not be engaged in law enforcement, but the rules of engagement will allow for self-defense.

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By Published On: January 23, 2025Categories: UncategorizedComments Off on Pentagon sending additional 1,500 troops to southern border: US official

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