A US Navy destroyer was deployed on the southern border over the weekend to support the Trump administration's maritime efforts to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
USS Grawely, an Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer, has departed from Virginia's Naval Weapons Station and executed President Donald Trump's southern border enforcement order for a planned deployment to the US-Mexico border, said in a statement Saturday.
“The maritime capabilities of gravity will improve our ability to protect the integrity, sovereignty and security of our territorial integrity,” said General Gregory Guillott of the Northern United States Command.
General Alexus Grinkeivic, the operation's co-staff director, told reporters on Monday that the USS will go to the US Gulf and run a mission to intercept drug smugglers at sea.
The San Diego sector chief said:
The Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer USS returned to Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk on July 14, 2024, ending its nine-month deployment into the Atlantic. (US Navy photo: Anderson W. Branch, Mass Communication Specialist Class 2)
Navy officials said the development “emphasize dedication to cooperation in combating maritime terrorism, arms spread, cross-border crime, piracy, environmental destruction and illegal maritime immigration.”
The USS was previously deployed in the Red Sea, and will step up the Iran-backed Houtis to intercept missiles fired on commercial vessels, and to “fill in critical capabilities gaps” to support the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, officials said.
“This is an important step in the government-wide effort to seal the southern borders and maintain US sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Guillott said.
“It's not only is it essential for the US to control our borders through the land,” Pentagon's chief spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Monday. “Controlling the waters of our territory is equally important, and this deployment directly supports the Northern US Command's mission to protect our sovereignty.”
The Coast Guard captain told Fox News Digital earlier this month that around 200 immigrant ships met near the San Diego coast in the past 90 days, which was attributed to an increase in land border security in the Trump administration.
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“They keep their land borders in pretty good places… They used to win thousands a day. Now, they're down with hundreds of conditions a day,” said Jason Hagen, Captain of the Coast Guard. “So immigrants have to go somewhere. Smugglers have to move their operations somewhere. And we are beginning to see an increase in the maritime environment.”
Hagen said those on the immigrant ships include foreigners from enemy US people.
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“We're beginning to see an increase in other nationalities. This is… a national security concern because your economy Mexicans aren't just wanting to come to the US for work,” Hagen said. “That too… a bad actor coming from other countries. We've seen nationalities including Chinese, Russian and Uzbekistan.[i],Pakistan[i]. It's really everywhere. ”
Oudrey Conklin of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
