Pentagon sends 1,500 troops to help secure U.S.-Mexico border

IMMIGRATION

Members of the Mexican National Guard patrol as construction crews replace sections of a border wall separating Mexico from the United States on Wednesday in Tijuana, Mexico. GREGORY BULL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON >> The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration.

Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the troops will fly helicopters to assist Border Patrol agents and help in the construction of barriers. The Pentagon also will provide military aircraft for Department of Homeland Security deportation flights for more than 5,000 detained migrants.

The number of troops and their mission may soon change, Salesses said in a statement. “This is just the beginning,” he said.

“In short order, the department will develop and execute additional missions in cooperation with DHS, federal agencies, and state partners to address the full range of threats outlined by the President at our nation’s borders,” Salesses said.

Defense officials added that the department is prepared to provide more troops if asked, including up to 2,000 Marines.

Officials said there was no plan now for the troops to do law enforcement, which would put them in a dramatically different role for the first time in decades. Any decision on this would be made by the White House, they said.

The active duty forces will join the roughly 2,500 U.S. National Guard and Reserve forces already there. Until this deployment, there were no active duty troops working along the roughly 2,000-mile border.

A couple hundred troops started moving to the border earlier Wednesday, according to a senior military official. The military official and a defense official briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details on the deployment. The troops will include 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in California, and the remainder will be Army.

The U.S. forces being used for the deportation flights are separate from the 1,500 deployed for the border mission. Those flights will involve four Air Force aircraft based in San Diego an El Paso, along with crews and maintenance personnel.

Troops have done similar duties in support of Border Patrol agents in the past, when Trump and former President Joe Biden sent active duty troops to the border.

Troops are prohibited by law from doing law enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act, but that may change. Trump has directed through executive order that the incoming secretary of defense and incoming homeland security chief report back within 90 days if they think an 1807 law called the Insurrection Act should be invoked. That would allow those troops to be used in civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.