Hegseth Deploys 3,000 Troops, Stryker Combat Vehicles to Southern Border

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an additional 2,500 to 3,000 active-duty troops to the southern U.S. border, including soldiers from a motorized brigade equipped with 20-ton armored Stryker combat vehicles, defense officials familiar with the effort said.

The defense secretary approved the orders Friday, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal Defense Department planning. The soldiers are primarily from the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado, and will be joined by soldiers specializing in engineering, intelligence and public affairs, the officials said.

The Pentagon announced the deployment, first reported by The Washington Post, in a statement Saturday afternoon. Hegseth has ordered the deployment of a Stryker brigade combat team and a helicopter unit to “reinforce and expand current border security operations to seal the border and protect the territorial integrity of the United States,” the statement said.

The troops will arrive in coming weeks, underscoring the Defense Department’s “unwavering dedication to working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to secure our southern border and maintain the sovereignty, territory integrity, and security of the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” the statement added.

The statement did not disclose a number of troops to be deployed.

The mission had been in planning since January and comes despite a sharp drop in border crossings since the Trump administration took office. Hegseth said during a trip to the border in February that all options are on the table to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop illegal migration, and that the administration wants “100 percent operational control” of the border.

The orders are part of a broader, politically fraught military mission that the Trump administration initiated to to stop undocumented migrants and drug smugglers from crossing into the United States. Several thousand U.S. troops are already involved, primarily assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the detection and apprehension of migrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Stryker vehicles — a lightly armored attack vehicle carrying up to 11 soldiers and typically equipped with a machine gun or grenade launcher — have been used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, the Biden administration provided some Stryker vehicles to Ukrainian forces, who used them during a cross-border incursion into the Kursk region of Russia. It was not clear Saturday if vehicles will be mounted with weapons during the deployment.

The Strykers likely will be transported to the border by rail and truck, after earlier discussions included the possibility of a road march from Fort Carson, one of the officials said. Army officials see it as useful for the soldiers to continue training with the vehicles while deployed to the border. The vehicles will be sent to Arizona, and also could appear in other states, the official said.

It was not immediately clear where in Arizona they will appear, or if they will rely on existing military bases for support. Among those near the border are Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, and Fort Huachuca, an Army installation.

Trump has long shown an interest in deploying U.S. troops domestically for demonstrations of force, whether to deter migration or to crack down on civil protests. During his first administration, as many as 8,000 troops were deployed to the border at a time, but their mission was largely limited to stringing miles of razor wire and providing other logistical support to CBP.

Border crossings soared early in the Biden administration, as the Democratic president rolled back restrictions adopted during Trump’s first term. Those numbers plummeted last year after U.S. and Mexican authorities introduced new efforts to stem the flow of migrants looking to enter the United States.