US deploys 1500 active troops to Mexican border

The US military is preparing to deploy approximately 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the border with Mexico, according to a US official, News.az reports citing foreign media.

The move comes just two days after new US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on immigration.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say exactly when the troops would be deployed.

They will join the roughly 2200 active-duty and thousands of National Guard troops already on the US’s southern border.

During his first term, Republican Trump ordered 5200 troops to help secure the border with Mexico.

Democratic former president Joe Biden deployed active-duty troops to the border as well.

In his first day in office on Monday, Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency, tasking the US military with aiding border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on US soil.

His January 20 executive order instructed 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 Defence Department and Department of Homeland Security will need to recommend whether additional actions, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, might be necessary,” it said.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the US president to deploy the military to suppress domestic insurrection. It has been used in the past to quell civil unrest.

News.Az