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Pentagon Sends 1,500 More Troops to US Southern Border

By James Morley III | Friday, 07 February 2025 08:27 PM EST

The Pentagon has announced the deployment of an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S. southern border, a U.S. official announced on Friday.

The move is part of President Donald Trump's campaign promise to tackle illegal immigration and enhance border security. The deployment will bring the total number of active-duty troops at the border to approximately 3,600.

The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly announced. The first group of 1,600 active-duty troops has already deployed to the border, and close to 500 more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to begin moving in the coming days.

The decision to send additional troops comes in response to an executive order issued by Trump in January declaring a national emergency at the border. "To protect the security and safety of United States citizens, President Trump declared that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States. The president directed me to take all appropriate action to support the activities of the secretary of homeland security in obtaining complete operational control of the southern border of the United States," acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said at the time.

The new soldiers will be involved with the placement of physical barriers, providing transportation and intelligence support and other assistance to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Earlier in the week it was announced that 500 Marines from North Carolina have been assigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some criminal illegal aliens will be held. Several hundred of them have already arrived in the facility known primarily for its military prison where it has the capacity to hold up to 30,000 individuals.