More Than 10,000 US Troops Deployed to Secure Southwest Border
By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor
(Worthy News) – Within less than three months of President Donald Trump being in office, more than 10,000 U.S. military troops have been deployed to support southern border security efforts.
On his first day and week in office, he issued multiple executive orders to secure the southwest border, including a Department of Defense directive for the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to “seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
Within 36 hours of his order being issued, an initial 1,500 U.S. troops were deployed to the southwest border, bringing the total to 4,000 troops, including 2,500 reservists already there.
By March 1, a 4,400-soldier Stryker brigade combat team and a 650-troop general support aviation battalion were deployed, bringing Title 10 forces to approximately 9,000, the DOD said. The units are equipped with Stryker vehicles, Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters to provide enhanced detection, logistic and aerial support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the ground. Troops have also been installing physical barriers and were deputized by Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks to perform immigration functions alongside CBP officers.
Within a month of Trump being in office, illegal border crossings dropped by 90 percent. February numbers were the lowest in U.S. recorded history, The Center Square reported.
In the past week, a missile destroyer was deployed to support USNORTHCOM southern border security efforts in U.S. and international waters.
Another 400 service members were deployed from New York, Colorado, Georgia and Maryland to support USNORTHCOM border security efforts.
On March 15, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely departed Naval Weapons Station Yorktown to support USNORTHCOM’s “southern border mission as part of the DOD’s coordinated effort in response to the Presidential Executive Order. Gravely’s sea-going capacity improves our ability to protect the United States’ territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security,” USNORTHCOM Commander Gen. Gregory Guillot said.
In order “to restore territorial integrity at the U.S. southern border,” Gravely’s crew will enhance maritime efforts and support interagency collaboration to combat maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction and illegal seaborne immigration, he said. A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) will be embarked aboard Gravely; LEDET’s carry out a range of maritime interdiction efforts.
On March 17, US Northern Command announced that an additional 400 service members had been approved to be deployed, including 385 US Army engineers. They include Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 41st Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division and the 642nd Engineer Company, 41st Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, both from Fort Drum, New York.
They also include the 76th Combat Engineer Company-Stryker, 4th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division (Fort Carson, CO); Headquarters, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Fort Stewart, GA); and 6th Medical Logistic Management Center (Fort Detrick, MD).
Troops from Georgia will provide aviation support as well as several MQ-1C Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft Systems with airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Maryland troops will provide centralized management of deployed medical logistics, USNORTHCOM said.
Deployment of these units increases the total number of troops deployed or approved to deploy to the southwest border to more than 10,000.