The Pentagon has sent up to 5,050 additional troops to the US-Mexico border despite the sudden drop in illegal border intersections in recent weeks.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses ordered the Striker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) and the general support air battalion to “enhance military support to secure the US-Mexico border.”
Each SBCT consists of approximately 4,400 soldiers, while the air battalion has approximately 650 units.
The military will arrive along the border around 2,000 miles in the coming weeks, officials added. They hadn't said exactly where the troops would be sent.
The development comes shortly after President Trump declared a national emergency on his southern border and signed numerous executive orders aimed at cracking down on illegal intersections shortly after taking office in January. As part of his efforts, he has turned his eyes to the military to strengthen the security of the area, flying immigrants from the United States and detaining them at bases.
Trump had already ordered 1,600 Marines to the border in January, and has already joined 2,500 service members before the new Trump administration.
The latest developments could inflate the number of ground service members at the border to just under 10,000.
The recent developments include a 94% decline in illegal intersections at tropical borders since the same period last year, as the border patrol chief said. CBS News last week.
Last week, Homeland Security's Department of Homeland Security Christie Noem revealed that customs and border security had been arrested. Only 200 people On February 22, the southern border is the lowest number of days in over 15 years.
Such figures appear to be at odds with the Trump administration's message, and officials claiming that the situation at the southern border is “aggression.”
“The illegal border intersections and the illegal transition to the US have reached record levels, pose a substantial and unacceptable threat to national security and public safety, Attorney General Pam Bondy wrote in an immigration policy memo issued when he took office earlier last month.”
