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WASHINGTON (AP) – Active Duty Military Troops will begin arriving in El Paso, Texas and San Diego Thursday night, in what defense officials said is the first batch of the new forces deployed to secure the southern border.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that about 1,500 troops were being sent to the border this week as the department scrambles to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order that called for an immediate crackdown on immigration.
U.S. officials said they expect additional troops to be ordered to deploy in the next few days as defense and homeland security leaders tighten requests for more support.
The officials said it’s not yet clear how many more service members would be tapped in the near future, but they would include active duty, National Guard and Reserves and come from land, air and sea forces. Other defense and military officials estimated this week that the additional number used could be in the thousands.
The troops announced Wednesday include about 1,000 Army soldiers from a variety of units and 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in California.
Officials said Thursday they expect the bulk of them to be in El Paso — including Fort Bliss — or in San Diego by Friday, where they will be assigned their missions and prepare to disperse along the border. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details on troop movements.
There were already about 2,500 guard and reserve forces deployed to the border, and the new 1,500 would add to the total. But officials noted that given the length of the nearly 1,000-mile (2,000 km) border with Mexico, it will take additional effort to help put large rolls of concertina barriers in place and provide necessary transportation, intelligence and other support to the Border Patrol.
As of Thursday, there were still no requests for military bases to be used to house migrants or for troops to be used for law enforcement duties.
