Soldiers scan a known crossing point of the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on Feb. 25, 2025. (Andrew Sveen/U.S. Army)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an additional 2,500 to 3,000 active-duty troops to the southern U.S. border, including soldiers from a motorized brigade equipped with 20-ton armored Stryker combat vehicles, two defense officials familiar with the effort said.
The defense secretary approved the orders Friday, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal Defense Department planning. The soldiers are primarily from the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado, and will be joined by soldiers specializing in engineering, intelligence and public affairs, the officials said.
Officials with U.S. Northern Command, which oversees military operations in the United States, and Pentagon spokesmen John Ullyot and Sean Parnell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deployment 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 Donald Trump’s efforts to stop illegal migration.
The orders are part of a broader, politically fraught military mission that the Trump administration initiated to bolster efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to stop undocumented migrants and drug smugglers from crossing into the United States. Several thousand U.S. troops are already involved, primarily assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (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 if vehicles will be mounted with weapons during the deployment.
The Strykers likely will 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.
Trump has long shown an interest in deploying U.S. 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 U.S. and Mexican authorities introduced new efforts to stem the flow of migrants looking to enter the United States.
