Pentagon Surging More Troops, Black Hawk Helicopters to Southern Border

The Pentagon is surging about 3,000 active-duty troops and other resources to the U.S. southern border as aggressive efforts continue to stop the flow of illegal immigration.  

The Department of Defense announced Saturday that it’s sending a Stryker Brigade Combat Team and a General Support Aviation Battalion to the U.S. border with Mexico. The troops will arrive in the coming weeks, according to a statement from Sean Parnell, Pentagon press secretary. 

The additional Defense Department resources affirm the Pentagon’s “unwavering dedication to working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to secure our southern border and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” Parnell said.  

The Stryker Brigade Combat Team includes the Stryker vehicle, an armored vehicle with eight wheels, according to the Pentagon.  

The General Support Aviation Battalion “brings aviation muscle,” according to the Pentagon, with Black Hawk helicopters and military transport aircraft.  

“The Stryker’s design—lighter than tanks, yet more robust than light infantry—makes it ideal for the border’s vast terrain, while the aviation battalion’s air-traffic control and lift capacity ensure seamless coordination,” according to the Pentagon.  

Since assuming the position as defense secretary in the Trump administration, Pete Hegseth has pledged to provide whatever resources are necessary to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge to secure the border.  

Hegseth responded to the announcement of the additional border resources in a post on X on Saturday, writing “100% operational control will be had at the southern border.”  

The deployment of this latest groups of troops follows the Trump administration’s initial deployments of 1,600 Marines and soldiers to the border in January, who joined 2,500 reservists, according to the DOD.  

Trump campaigned on the promise of closing the border, and Customs and Border Protection reports a significant decline in the number of encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border since Trump took office.  

On Monday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a photo from Fox News comparing February border encounter numbers over the past four years. In February, there were 8,326 illegal alien encounters at the southern border, compared with the same month in previous years: 189,913 in 2024; 156,630 in 2023; and 166,010 in 2022, according to CBP.  

Trump is expected to discuss his actions regarding the border Tuesday night during his State of the Union-style speech to a joint session of Congress. The speech is set to begin at 9 p.m. EST, and Trump has pledged to use the speech to “tell it like it is.”  

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