The troops will arrive in coming weeks, underscoring the Defense Department’s “unwavering dedication to working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to secure our southern border and maintain the sovereignty, territory integrity, and security of the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” the statement added. About 2,400 soldiers will deploy with the Stryker brigade combat team and an additional 550 will go with the aviation unit, said another defense official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. A handful of others will join them. After news of the deployment, Hegseth said in a post on X that the administration is “dead serious about 100% OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the southern border.” The mission had been in planning since January and comes despite a sharp drop in border crossings since the Trump administration took office. Hegseth said during a trip to the border in February that all options are on the table to support President Trump’s efforts to stop illegal migration. The orders are part of a broader, politically fraught military mission that the Trump administration initiated to stop undocumented migrants and drug smugglers from crossing into the United States. Several thousand US troops are already involved, primarily assisting Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, in the detection and apprehension of migrants seeking to enter the United States illegally. Stryker vehicles, a lightly armored attack vehicle carrying up to 11 soldiers and typically equipped with a machine gun or grenade launcher, have been used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, the Biden administration provided some Stryker vehicles to Ukrainian forces, who used them during a cross-border incursion into the Kursk region of Russia. It was not clear Saturday whether vehicles will be mounted with weapons during the deployment. The Strykers are likely to be transported to the border by rail and truck, after earlier discussions included the possibility of a road march from Fort Carson, one of the officials said. Army officials see it as useful for the soldiers to continue training with the vehicles while deployed to the border. The vehicles will be sent to Arizona, and also could appear in other states, the official said. It was not immediately clear where in Arizona they will appear, or whether they will rely on existing military bases for support. Among those near the border are Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, and Fort Huachuca, an Army installation. Trump has long shown an interest in deploying US troops domestically for demonstrations of force, whether to deter migration or to crack down on civil protests. During his first administration, as many as 8,000 troops were deployed to the border at a time, but their mission was largely limited to stringing miles of razor wire and providing other logistical support to CBP. Border crossings soared early in the Biden administration, as the Democratic president rolled back restrictions adopted during Trump’s first term. Those numbers plummeted last year after US and Mexican authorities introduced new efforts to stem the flow of migrants looking to enter the United States. Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, said Saturday in a statement that he welcomed more support to secure Arizona’s border and “stem the flow of fentanyl poisoning our communities.” But he said the Trump administration’s approach is “just an expensive Band-Aid” for a complex set of issues. “Long term we need to give our port officers and Border Patrol agents the resources that they need instead of having troops do their job,” Gallego said. “I will continue to push the Trump Administration to focus on actual solutions instead of flashy optics.”
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