President Donald Trump ordered a new deployment of around 1,500 troops to the U.S. southern border on Jan. 22, as part of his ongoing effort to halt illegal border crossing and smuggling efforts.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the deployment order in comments to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday.
“This is something President Trump campaigned on. The American people have been waiting for such a time as this for our Department of Defense to actually take homeland security seriously,” Leavitt told reporters.
U.S. troops are already attached to a federal border security mission, dubbed Joint Task Force North (JTF-N). The U.S. Northern Command, which oversees JTF-N, estimates around 2,500 service members are currently attached to this federal border security mission….