A United States general has announced there are currently about 5,000 active-duty soldiers along the country’s southern border with Mexico, as part of President Donald Trump’s overall push to crack down on immigration.
General Gregory Guillot, the head of US Northern Command, told lawmakers on Thursday he expects that number could increase further.
He also revealed that the military has heightened its activities in the domain of cross-border intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Drug cartels were the primary target.
“We have also increased some uniquely military capabilities that will get after … the cartels, which are driving the illegal migration,” said Guillot. “That is primarily through airborne ISR to get more information on those and figure out how we can counter their actions.”
The presence of thousands of US soldiers along the border with Mexico fulfils a campaign pledge made by President Donald Trump to declare a “national emergency” at the southern US border.
On January 20, the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order that directed military leaders to send “as many units or members of the Armed Forces” as needed to the border, to obtain “complete operational control” of the area.
He also called on the US secretary of transportation to waive restrictions on “unmanned aerial systems” within eight kilometres (five miles) of the border.
During his time as a politician, Trump has leaned into nativist rhetoric that frames undocumented immigration as an “invasion” and the people involved as “criminals”. Shutting the border to irregular crossings has been a cornerstone of his campaign for re-election, as has launching a “mass deportation” campaign.
Trump has also exerted pressure on his country’s neighbours to restrict undocumented immigration, including through the use of tariffs.
In November, before taking office, Trump announced he planned to impose 25-percent tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico, the country’s two largest trading partners, in order to force them to halt trafficking of drugs and people across their shared borders with the US.
After being sworn in, Trump followed through with his promise, announcing the tariffs would take effect in early February.
But both Canada and Mexico negotiated deals with Trump to postpone the tariffs in exchange for concessions.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, for instance, sent 10,000 members of her country’s National Guard to the border with the US in the name of combating drug trafficking and irregular migration.
The US and Mexico have long collaborated on efforts to crack down on migration, which critics say often comes at the expense of human rights.
After all, not all irregular migration is illegal. US and international law protects the rights of asylum seekers to flee across borders to escape persecution.
Critics have also grown alarmed at the potential for US military action against Mexico’s cartels.
During the first hours of his second term, Trump signed another executive order designating the cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, calling them an “unacceptable national security risk to the United States”.
In the days afterwards, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan told ABC News that there could be clashes between the increased surge of US troops and the cartels.
“Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely, because the cartels are making record amounts of money,” Homan said.
Other Republican officials, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have also voiced support for military strikes on Mexican cartels.
But the Mexican government has viewed that rhetoric with great alarm, and it maintains any such strike would represent a severe violation of its country’s sovereignty.
Nevertheless, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not express alarm over US military surveillance flights, as they were currently taking place over US soil. She addressed the topic in a morning news conference on Thursday, before Guillot offered his testimony in the US.
“This is not the first time that there have been flights of this type, it’s not out of nowhere,” Sheinbaum said.
“Will we ask for an explanation? Yes, but as part of our coordination with them.”
Meanwhile, when asked by US lawmakers if he would require the presence of an aircraft carrier strike group near Mexico, Guillot said that he would need “significant increased maritime presence in cooperation with the Coast Guard”.