The Department of Defense expects more troops to head to the southern border to assist the Department of Homeland Security as early signs show a significant reduction in arrests since the Trump administration came into power.
There are roughly 5,000 U.S. troops at the southern border operating under the United States Northern Command in support of the Department of Homeland Security. That total is “expected to rise,” a USNORTHCOM spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
From President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 21 through the rest of the month, “the number of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border dropped 85% from the same period in 2024,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a press release this week.
In total, federal Border Patrol agents stationed at the southern border intercepted 29,116 migrants trying to cross last month, down from more than 47,000 in December 2024 and upwards of 124,000 in January 2024. The last time CBP arrested fewer migrants trying to illegally enter the United States in a month was in May 2020.
“These military forces will support enhanced detection and monitoring efforts and repair and emplace physical barriers,” the USNORTHCOM spokesperson added. “There are also intelligence personnel who provide full motion video analysis, counter network analysis, and Spanish language translation to the U.S. Border Patrol Office of Intelligence.”
These troops are currently mobilized through Sept. 30.
Another aspect of the military’s strategy to assist DHS is the housing of dangerous migrants awaiting deportation at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. They are not housed with the detained alleged terrorists, who are also held at the base.
The United States Southern Command is leading the military’s efforts at Guantanamo Bay, given that it falls within its area of responsibility. There are roughly 850 troops — 700 Army and Marine service members combined with the remaining coming from the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and civilian personnel — at Guantanamo Bay supporting the DHS-led mission, according to a USSOUTHCOM spokesperson.
That tally, the spokesperson added, “will continue to fluctuate as additional forces are tasked to deploy.”
The president indicated that the base could hold up to 30,000 detainees, though they are not currently at that capability.
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U.S. Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander of U.S. Southern Command, told lawmakers last week that they’re in the “initial phases” of this mission, adding, “Right now, we’re still building out. We have forces on the ground, and that process is still in play.”
Another aspect of the administration’s wide-ranging strategy to reduce illegal migration and smuggling, which occurred on Wednesday, was to designate several Latin American drug cartels, including Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and others, as global terrorist organizations, according to a Federal Register notice as foreign terrorist organizations.