By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military is preparing to send about 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the border with Mexico, a U.S. official said, just two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on immigration .
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say when exactly the troops would be deployed.
They would join the approximately 2,200 active duty troops and thousands of National Guard troops already on the border.
During his first term, Republican Trump ordered 5,200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico. Former Democratic President Joe Biden also deployed active-duty troops to the border.
On his first day in office, Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency, directing the U.S. military to help with border security, broadly banning asylum, and taking steps to restrict citizenship to children born on the soil. American.
His January 20 executive order ordered the Pentagon to send as many troops as necessary to obtain “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”
“Within 90 days, the heads of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security will be required to recommend whether additional actions, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, may be necessary,” the statement said .
The Insurrection Act of 1807 authorizes the U.S. president to deploy the military to suppress domestic insurrection and has been used in the past to quell civil unrest.
Trump took back the White House after promising to step up border security and expel record numbers of migrants. He criticized Biden for his high levels of illegal immigration, even though the number of migrants caught crossing illegally had already begun to drop dramatically after Biden toughened his policies last year and Mexico stepped up its implementing measures.
The Coast Guard, responsible for maritime security and law enforcement, said Tuesday it would “immediately dispatch” forces and ships to a number of areas, including the southeastern border near Florida, to “deter and prevent massive maritime migration from Haiti.” and/or Cuba.”
Another key area is the maritime border between Texas and Mexico, in the “Gulf of America”.
Trump has said he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.