Thousands of active-duty troops are moving south as the military prepares to take “full operational control” of the U.S. border.
Within 48 hours of Donald Trump taking office, orders are issued to the military to further assist immigration officials in dealing with the border crisis.
Trump promised during his 2024 campaign to get military assistance to secure the southern border.
And the troop deployment comes as migrants crash along the border after CBP One asylum appointments were canceled and the Biden-era app was shuttered.
The president issued an executive order reiterating the importance of deploying troops to the border to secure America's borders in the interests of defense and national security.
There are already approximately 2,500 troops at the border assisting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as part of Joint Task Force-North, the U.S. Northern Command's border mission based in El Paso, Texas.
Trump's order will send an additional 1,500 troops to the border by the end of January.
There is also a National Guard contingent called Operation Lonestar, led by the Texas National Guard and directed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. There are currently approximately 4,500 National Guardsmen assigned to this mission.
There are about 2,200 active-duty troops at the southern border assisting with immigration operations — and thousands more have now been ordered to report to the border in Donald Trump's crackdown on the migrant crisis
Margelis Tinoco, a migrant from Colombia, cried as she arrived at the U.S. border just as Trump was inaugurated and found the CBP One app had been closed and her appointment with officials canceled
The forces already at the border mainly carry out logistical and bureaucratic tasks such as data entry, detection, monitoring and vehicle maintenance. And those ordered there now will likely assist in more of the same in that sense.
More forces are expected to be deployed there in the coming weeks and months, according to multiple reports.
It is not yet clear which additional units will be ordered south.
Trump's “border czar” Tom Homan announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had already arrested 308 illegal migrants on Tuesday – including some charged with murder and child rape.
“ICE is doing its job,” Homan said of the quickly conducted operations.
Trump has not ruled out deploying the military within US borders to help round up illegal immigrants for his mass deportation operation.
But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also creates task forces to work with local and state law enforcement authorities to have them enforce federal immigration laws.
A memo issued Tuesday warns local governments that if they want to protect illegal immigrants from detection or deportation by federal authorities, they can now face criminal charges.
This is an obvious crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities — a name given to generally Democratic jurisdictions that seek to prevent or circumvent federal authorities whose job it is to track, arrest or deport illegal immigrants.
President Trump is directing federal prosecutors to investigate state and city officials who oppose his immigration enforcement efforts, according to a Justice Department memo.
He vowed to restart immigration raids, including in sanctuary cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, New York City and many others.
Multiple reports detail the new Justice Department guidance and memo, written by Trump appointee and acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
It says: “Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, or otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related orders and requests.”
Trump signed 10 executive orders related to immigration policy on Monday — including one cracking down on sanctuary cities and another clarifying the military's role at the border
Migrants were deported from the US back to Tijuana, Mexico on Tuesday, January 21 – just 24 hours after Donald Trump took office
Trump issued 10 executive orders related to the southern border and the illegal immigration crisis on Monday on the first day of his second term.
He promised during the 2024 election that he would carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.
Homan told Fox News that there have been no CBP One App releases since Trump took office, claiming that the total number of apprehensions at the southern border dropped to 766 on Tuesday.
This compared to the thousands per day crossing the border under Biden's leadership is a drastic change overnight.
Migrants were deported or sent straight back to Mexico on Tuesday as they tried to enter the US at the Tijuana-California border – Trump's first full day back in power.
Hundreds were seen walking back across the El Chaparral pedestrian border bridge on Tuesday after being sent back to Mexico.
Border tsar Tom Homan said 308 migrants had already been arrested by ICE on Tuesday, marking Trump's first full day back in office
Migrants walk back into Mexico after being deported from California on Tuesday, January 21
The Justice Department is now warning that any officials who resist or obstruct federal immigration enforcement could now be charged with defrauding the U.S. or even harboring illegal aliens.
If their investigation reveals that local officials have violated this directive, but the prosecutor chooses not to pursue criminal charges, they must notify the Department of Justice of such decision.
Bove's memo notes that this is one more way to enforce the flurry of executive orders Trump has already signed on illegal immigration.
He also cited threats from international gangs and drug cartels, writing, “It is the responsibility of the Department of Justice to defend the Constitution and, accordingly, lawfully implement the policies the American people have chosen through President Trump.”
