The Pentagon will deploy a further 3,000 troops and Stryker armored vehicles to the southern border.
According to officials, the deployment will help to “seal the border and protect the territorial integrity of the United States.” It will include a Stryker Brigade Combat Team and a General Support Aviation Battalion.
The additional deployment will bring the total number of troops at the border to 9,000, in addition to federal and state law-enforcement.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth commented on social media, “We are dead serious about 100% OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the southern border.”
After declaring a national emergency and sending troops to the border, crossings have fallen dramatically.
Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told CBS news recently that crossings are down 94%.
Banks said that Border Patrol are now detaining an average of less than 300 migrants a day, compared to 4,800 apprehensions a day during the same period last year. The majority of migrants apprehended by the Biden administration were subsequently released into the US.