The Pentagon is sending another 2,500 to 3,000 troops to the southern border as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its crackdown on immigration.
Some of the soldiers being sent to the border come from a motorized brigade using Stryker combat vehicles, two defense officials told The Washington Post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved the orders Friday, according to the officials. The troops are mostly from the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado. The officials told the paper that they will be joined by soldiers with specialties in public affairs, intelligence, and engineering.
The deployment of troops had been planned since early this year and the boost in soldiers comes despite a decrease in border crossings following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Last month, Hegseth visited the border with Mexico, saying that all options remain available as part of the crackdown. The orders of further troops to the border come amid a wider effort headed by the Department of Homeland Security to block undocumented migrants and drug smugglers from entering the U.S.
Thousands of troops are already part of the effort, mostly aiding U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to detect and detain migrants attempting to illegally cross the border.
Stryker vehicles weigh roughly 20 tons and can carry as many as 11 soldiers. They have been used in recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Biden administration handed Stryker vehicles to Ukraine for use in its fight against Russia. Ukraine used the vehicles as they made their way into the Kursk region of Russia. On Saturday, it remained unclear if weapons would be mounted on the Strykers as part of the deployment to the border with Mexico, according to The Post.
The Strykers are likely to be moved to the border via rail and on trucks following previous discussions regarding a road march from Fort Carson, one of the officials told the paper. Army officials view it as an opportunity for U.S. troops to train with the vehicles during the deployment to the border. They’re set to be transported to Arizona, but could also be sent to other states.
Trump has been a longtime supporter of deploying the U.S. military within the country as a show of force, both to curb migration and to clamp down on civil protests. During Trump’s first stint in the White House, about 8,000 troops were sent to the border at a time. However, their job was restricted to laying out razor wire and helping CBP with logistics.
In the early days of the Biden administration, border crossings rose sharply amid the rollback of restrictions from Trump’s first term. Last year, those numbers declined massively following new attempts by U.S. and Mexican authorities to curb the number of migrants trying to cross the border.
