Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the deployment of an active-duty Stryker Brigade Combat Team and an aviation battalion to reinforce security at the United States southern border, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced over the weekend.
“As directed by President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the deployment of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) and General Support Aviation Battalion to reinforce and expand current border security operations to seal the border and protect the territorial integrity of the United States, a priority for the President,” Parnell said in a statement on Saturday.
“These forces will arrive in the coming weeks and their deployment underscores the Department’s unwavering dedication to working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to secure our southern border and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” he said.
U.S. Northern Command (Northcom) said there would be approximately 2,400 soldiers from elements of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, Colorado, headed to the border to augment units already there. Their locations where they will deploy to are not being disclosed at this time.
Soldiers from the Stryker brigade — which is built around the Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle — will conduct detection and monitoring; administrative support; transportation support; warehousing and logistic support; vehicle maintenance; and engineering support. They will not conduct or be involved in interdiction or deportation operations.
Strykers last deployed to the U.S. southern border in 2012, according to Northcom.
The approximately 500 soldiers from the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Stewart, Georgia, will assist in moving personnel, equipment and supplies, as well as medical evacuations.
The 19th Public Affairs Detachment from Fort Riley, Kansas, will provide public affairs support.
Northcom Commander Gen. Gregory Guillot 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.”
The additional troops will bring he total number of active-duty forces deployed to the southern border to about 9,000, Northcom said.
This year, the Trump administration added 1,600 active-duty troops to the border, an increase of 60 percent. It considers securing the border its number-one security priority.
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