More active duty troops will head to US-Mexico border, bringing the total to 3,600

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active duty soldiers to the southern border to support President Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on immigration, a U.S. official said Friday.

That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active duty troops at the border.

The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly announced.

The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trump’s executive orders signed shortly after he took office on Jan. 20. The first group of 1,600 active duty troops has already deployed to the border, and close to 500 more soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are expected to begin moving in the coming days.

About 500 Marines also have been told to go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. Several hundred Marines have already arrived there.

Troops going to the border are expected to help put in place concertina wire barriers and provide needed transportation, intelligence and other support to the Border Patrol. The logistics brigade will help support and sustain the troops.

Troops going to Guantanamo are helping to prepare the facility for an influx of migrants and do other support duties.