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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 new forces being 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 struggles to push through President Donald Trump’s order calling 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 hammer out requests for more support.
The officials said it is not yet clear how many more service members will be drafted in the near future, but they will include active duty, National Guard and reserves and come from the Army, Air Force and Navy. Other defense and military officials this week estimated that the additional number deployed 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 on Friday, where they will get their mission assignments and prepare to spread out 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 2,000-mile border with Mexico, additional efforts will be required to help put large rolls of accordion wire 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.
