President Donald Trump’s plans to secure the southern border moved ahead just days after he took office with the deployment of 1,500 ground personnel, a 60% increase in active duty troops.
That’s according to Acting Department of Defense Secretary Robert Salesses, who announced the action would happen Wednesday. He said this deployment will include helicopters with associated crews and intelligence analysts.
Salesses said that the actions are part of a plan to “protect the security and safety of United States citizens,” declared by Trump. This week, the president declared a national emergency at the border.
“For the past four years, the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to enforce the border, resulting in a catastrophic immigration crisis for the United States,” said a Fact Sheet about the order.
In his announcement, Salesses said that he convened a meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior Policy leaders of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Commanders of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (NGB) Tuesday and directed them to “move out immediately” in support of the executive order. He also ordered the DoD to establish a Task Force to oversee “expedited” implementation of Trump’s orders – moves that he foreshadowed while on the campaign trail last year.
“This includes employment of U.S. military forces to carry out directed missions called for by the president,” said Salesses.
In addition to sending more troops to the border, the acting director said the DoD authorized to provide military airlift to support Department of Homeland Security deportation flights of more than 5,000 “illegal aliens from the San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas sectors,” who have been detained by Customs and Border Protection. He said the DHS was expected to provide inflight law enforcement and that the State Department would obtain “the requisite diplomatic clearances and provide host-nation notification.”
Furthermore, Salesses said the DoD plans to begin construction of both temporary and physical barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border. These are intended to provide additional security and “curtail illegal border crossings and illicit trafficking.”
“This is just the beginning,” said Salesses. “In short order, the Department will develop and execute additional missions in cooperation with DHS, federal agencies, and state partners to address the full range of threats outlined by the President at our nation’s borders.”
Some groups have pushed back against Trump’s executive orders on immigration.
“The chaos and uncertainty in the wake of Monday night’s executive orders do not bring us closer to a safer or more prosperous United States,” said a blog post from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
According to Associated Press/NORC poll results released Wednesday, half of U.S. adults believe border security is a top issue for the nation. While 43% of American adults supported deporting all immigrants living in the country illegally, just 28% supported deporting undocumented immigrants if it meant they would be separated from their children who are citizens and just 17% supported separating children from parents detained for entering the country illegally.