Washington [US], March 3: The US Department of Defense said Saturday that about 3,000 more soldiers will be deployed to its southern border with Mexico.
About 2,400 soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) and 500 soldiers from the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade will be sent, US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) said in a statement.
"These deployments will bring additional agility and capability to further efforts to stop the flow of illegal migrancy and drugs at the southern border," its commander, General Gregory Guillot said.
What tasks will the troops be assigned
The statement said the Stryker unit "will not conduct or be involved in interdiction or deportation operations," it said.
Their tasks will include "detection and monitoring; administrative support; transportation support; warehousing and logistic support; vehicle maintenance; and engineering support."
Stryker vehicles, which are a lightly armored attack vehicle that carries up to 11 soldiers, are generally equipped with a machine gun or grenade launcher and have been used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States also provided the vehicles to Ukraine for use in its incursion in the Kursk region of Russia.
The aviation unit troops will "assist in the movement of personnel, equipment, and supplies; and provide aerial medical evacuation capabilities," the statement added.
US-Mexico border
The US-Mexico border sees thousands of immigrants and refugees fleeing poverty, violence and political instability in their home countries, mostly from Latin America.
The US has been sending military forces to its border with Mexico since the 1990s to curb migration, crime and drug trafficking.
President Donald Trump had made this issue one of the biggest talking points of his election campaigns. Since taking office, he has launched a major effort to stop illegal immigration, which includes immigration raids, arrests and deportations.
On Saturday, he lauded his administration's response to combat illegal immigration and drugs trafficking and posted "the Invasion of our Country is OVER," on his Truth Social media platform.
In January, Trump signed an executive order that said drug cartels "constitute a national security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime."
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had vowed "we are going to get control of the border" last month.
Last month, Trump also unveiled a plan to hold 30,000 migrants at a facility in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which was known for abuses against terror suspects detained after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Many of those held here in the last few weeks have already been deported.
Source: Times of Oman
