Pentagon to boost troops at border and help with deportations

Roxana Tiron, Bloomberg News on Jan 22, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is sending 1,500 troops to the U.S. southwest border, and several military transport aircraft are already on their way to help deport more than 5,000 migrants put in detention by the Biden administration, defense officials said Wednesday.

The new deployments come just two days after President Donald Trump issued a national emergency declaration ordering the military to boost border control, reflecting his campaign promise to close the border and deport those who aren’t in the U.S. legally.

The deployment of active-duty ground troops represent a 60% increase in military forces at the border, supplementing National Guard and reserve personnel already there, Robert Salesses, the acting defense secretary, said in a statement.

Although Salesses vowed “this is just the beginning” of military involvement in securing the border, the initial moves don’t call for troops to play a direct role in detaining migrants, which would open legal disputes about limits on the military’s role in domestic affairs.

Defense officials, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that it’s not yet clear what countries would accept the migrants the Pentagon plans to fly out of the U.S. Still, the moves underscored Trump’s determination to dramatically expand expand the military’s role in border enforcement. Those being deported are in detention in San Diego as well as El Paso, Texas, Salesses said.

The ground forces now being dispatched, accompanied by helicopters and intelligence analysts, will be supporting “increased detection and monitoring efforts,” Salesses said.

In a change from the Biden administration, the military also would also help build permanent and temporary barriers at the border, Salesses said in the statement.

The military will be using C-17 and C-130 aircraft for the deportation flights. About 100 military personnel will assist with those flights, the officials said.