Marines load concertina wire onto a 7-ton truck at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Jan. 22, 2025, in preparation to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border. (Diego Berumen/U.S. Marine Corps)
AUSTIN, Texas — Military police and Army engineers from seven states will join Marine Corps engineers from California already en route for a deployment to the U.S. border with Mexico ordered Monday by President Donald Trump.
In total, 1,500 active-duty troops will join about 2,500 National Guard members and helicopter crews already working at the southwest border in support of Customs and Border Protection. The forces will install physical barriers along the border and conduct detection and monitoring missions, according to U.S. Northern Command, which is leading the mission.
The first wave of active-duty troops was expected to be at locations along the border by the end of the week. NORTHCOM would not say exactly where the troops would deploy.
“U.S. Northern Command is aggressively bolstering security at the southern border,” said Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORTHCOM’s commander. “In a matter of days, we will have nearly doubled the number of forces along the border, effectively implementing the president’s intent while planning and posturing for expanded efforts to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States.”
There is discussion among defense officials and the White House that the number of troops deployed could reach 10,000, said a senior defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The executive order that Trump signed Monday called for whatever number of troops that defense officials deemed necessary.
Despite the bulk of troops coming from military police units, the Pentagon stated Wednesday that none “are intended to be used for law enforcement.”
Detachments made up of about 500 Marines and sailors from the 1st and 7th Combat Engineer Battalions from the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., were already deployed in support of wildfires in the state and began transitioning Wednesday to the border.
They will “secure the border and protect and defend the territorial integrity of the United States,” according to a statement from the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
The remaining 1,000 troops come from the following Army units:
• Headquarters, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Cavazos, Texas.
• Headquarters, 720th Military Police Battalion, Fort Cavazos, Texas.
• 401st Military Police Company, Fort Cavazos, Texas.
• 202nd Military Police Company, Fort Bliss, Texas.
• Headquarters, 716th Military Police Battalion, Fort Campbell, Ky.
• 23rd Military Police Company, Fort Drum, N.Y.
• 549th Military Police Company, Fort Stewart, Ga.
• 530th Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Stewart, Ga.
• 977th Military Police Company, Fort Riley, Kan.
• 41st Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Riley, Kan.
• 569th Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Headquarters, 759th Military Police Battalion, Fort Carson, Colo.
• 66th Military Police Company, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Meanwhile, two Air Force C-17 transport aircraft on Thursday began to make deportation flights out of Tucson, Ariz., and Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, according to two defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity. The military crews operating the flights were “sanitized for security reasons,” meaning the personnel removed all identifying name tags and unit patches from their uniforms.
Both flights were to Guatemala. The officials declined to comment on how many migrants were on the flights, but said they will continue to occur.
“We do not have an end date,” one official said.
The State Department is coordinating with the country receiving the flights and the Department of Homeland Security is providing in-flight security, according to the Pentagon.
