Military police and engineers from eight states are among the Army and Marine units the Pentagon is sending to the southern border this week while soldiers with the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain Divisions could join them soon, a U.S. official confirmed on Friday.
The soldiers from the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain have not yet been issued “prepare to deploy orders,” the official told Task & Purpose. Rather, they have been informed that if the secretary of defense orders the Army to send more troops to the southern border, they would be the next to go.
No information was immediately available on Friday about exactly how many soldiers from those two divisions might deploy, but the U.S. official confirmed that the entire divisions would not be sent to the southern border.
If they are deployed the soldiers from the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain Division would continue to carry out active-duty troops’ current missions on the border, the U.S. official said.
A Stryker brigade with the Army’s 4th Infantry Division has also been informed that it might delploy to the southern border if additional troops are needed, Task & Purpose has learned. As of Friday, the brigade had not received any orders to prepare to deploy.
On Wednesday, the Defense Department announced that it was deploying 1,000 soldiers and 500 Marines in response to Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the southern border.
“The exact number of personnel will fluctuate as units rotate personnel and as additional forces are tasked to deploy once planning efforts are finalized,” U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, announced on Friday. “Specific units will be announced as soon as more information is made available. These military forces will support enhanced detection and monitoring efforts and repair and emplace physical barriers.”
NORTHCOM also released the full list of the units to which the 1,500 troops are assigned:
Army units:
- Headquarters, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Cavazos, Texas
- Headquarters, 720th Military Police Battalion, Fort Cavazos, Texas
- 401st Military Police Company, Fort Cavazos, Texas
- 202nd Military Police Company, Fort Bliss, Texas
- Headquarters, 716th Military Police Battalion, Fort Campbell, Kentucky
- 23rd Military Police Company, Fort Drum, New York
- 549th Military Police Company, Fort Stewart, Georgia
- 530th Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Stewart, Georgia
- 977th Military Police Company, Fort Riley, Kansas
- 41st Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Riley, Kansas
- 569th Combat Engineer Company-Armored, Fort Carson, Colorado
- Headquarters, 759th Military Police Battalion, Fort Carson, Colorado
- 66th Military Police Company, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington
Marine Corps units:
- Detachment from 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California
- Detachment from 7th Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, Camp Pendleton, California
Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses indicated that more forces could follow.
“This is just the beginning,” Salesses said in a statement on Wednesday. “In short order, the Department will develop and execute additional missions in cooperation with DHS [Department of Homeland Security], federal agencies, and state partners to address the full range of threats outlined by the President at our nation’s borders.”
UPDATE: 01/24/2025; this story was updated with information about a Stryker brigade also possibly deploying to the southern border.