Fort Bliss, Texas. (January 25, 2025): The President has ordered thousands of Army Soldiers and Marines to the southern border to boost security and to augment construction efforts to extend the wall. In this photo by Senior Airman Elizabeth Schoubroek, Soldiers from the 66th Military Police Company exit a Globemaster III to join the fifteen hundred active-duty troops already stationed here. This initial deployment brings the total military presence at the border to nearly 4,000 personnel.

Based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, the 66th Military Police Company is one of nine Army military police and three combat engineer battalions mobilized by the President. They will be joined by two Marine detachments from the 1st and 7th Combat Engineer Battalions out of Camp Pendleton, California.

The troops will enhance monitoring efforts and assist in repairing and placing physical barriers at the border. They will not, however, function as police officers. Under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, federal law forbids the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. The Pentagon said that the Department of Homeland Security would be in charge of law enforcement, not military personnel.

Pentagon officials say the number of personnel sent to the border will fluctuate and likely reach 10,000 Soldiers and Marines. The President has pledged to halt illegal immigration into the U.S. and to strengthen security at the southern border.