The U.S. Army is planning to rotate troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border this summer, with the 1st Armored Division assuming command of the Joint Task Force – Southern Border mission.
The Pentagon announced the deployments Tuesday. The 1st Mobile Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, will deploy to the border to replace the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. The Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, will replace the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 1st Armored Division’s sustainment brigade will replace the 10th Mountain Division’s sustainment brigade.
In addition, headquarters of the 1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas, is set to replace the 101st Airborne Division headquarters.
“We are honored to assume command of this mission,” Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of the 1st Armored Division, said in a statement. “For most of living memory, our soldiers have fought for the freedom and security of our allies abroad, but now we have been asked to defend our own borders. This mission resonates with the soldiers of 1st Armored Division because the borderland is our home.”
Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the military has assumed an increased role in supporting immigration control, with U.S. troop deployments to the border tripling in the first six months of Trump’s second term. Until then, border control had been the domain of civilian law enforcement.
The military’s command center for the mission is Fort Huachuca, Arizona. In addition to operating from that remote base, soldiers will deploy “across a variety of locations along the southern border to carry out directed missions … and protect the territorial integrity of the United States,” an Army release states.
Nikki Wentling is a senior editor at Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for nearly a decade and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.