Pentagon Deploying 1,500 More Troops To Secure Southern Border, Officials Say
The Pentagon will send up to 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the southern border, following President Donald Trump’s executive orders on border security, officials said Wednesday.
The troops, set to be deployed in the coming days, will assist border patrol agents with logistics, transportation, and barrier construction, according to the officials. Around 2,200 active-duty forces are already at the southern border, primarily handling logistical and administrative tasks such as data entry, surveillance, and vehicle maintenance. More deployments are set to follow in the months ahead, CNN reported.
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed a series of executive orders to overhaul the U.S. border and immigration policy, declaring a national emergency at the southern border and directing the military to step up its presence there. Trump has reinstated the "Remain in Mexico" policy from his first term and designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
One of Trump’s executive orders authorized the military to repel "forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities" at the border.
Under the Biden administration, an estimated eight million migrants entered the United States illegally, with more than 13,000 illegal migrants convicted of murder remaining at large, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Department of Justice issued a memo Wednesday warning that state and local officials who obstruct the Trump administration’s immigration law enforcement could face prosecution. "Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests," the memo reads.
Since Trump’s election victory in November, House Republicans have introduced several border security bills, including the Laken Riley Act, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, and proposals to cut federal funding for sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement.
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