U.S. Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 759th Military Police Battalion, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border execute mounted screening operations along the nation’s border near Yuma, Arizona, in April 2025. 2ND LT. ERICA ESTERLY/U.S. ARMY
THE WATCH STAFF
Nearly 200 intelligence and signal corps U.S. Soldiers will be deployed to the southern border to augment a 10,000-strong force that has been tasked by the government with securing operational control of the frontier with Mexico. The deployment is the latest in a three-month buildup of military force along a border that had been overwhelmed at times in recent years with security issues, including gun and drug smuggling and illegal migration.
The units sent to the border will include the following units, according to U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM):
- About 40 U.S. Army military intelligence professionals from XVIII Airborne Corps will deploy to locations in the United States to augment the Joint Intelligence Task Force-Southern Border (JITF-SB), providing all-source intelligence support.
- The U.S. Army’s 73rd Military Intelligence Company from Fort Drum, New York, will deploy 40 additional military intelligence professionals to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to augment JTF-SB with additional all-source intelligence support.
- About 100 U.S. Army personnel from a Corps Signal Brigade to be named later will provide theater-level command and control of deployed signal battalions and other signal units supporting the USNORTHCOM mission along the border.
“The exact timeline for these deployments has not been determined and the exact number of personnel will fluctuate as units rotate personnel and as additional forces are tasked to deploy once planning efforts are finalized,” stated an April 23, 2025, USNORTHCOM news release.
The border build up has yielded impressive results. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, since January there has been a 97% decrease in illegal border crossings, a 59% increase in ammunition and gun part seizures and a 70% increase in fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine seizures. The operational successes have resulted from close cooperation with Mexico, which deployed 10,000 troops to the border at the same time as the U.S. increased its military presence. Top military officials in the U.S. and Mexico have praised the effectiveness of the border security strategy.
The Joint Intelligence Task Force-Southern Border, created in February 2025, integrates and deconflicts intelligence planning and analysis to support USNORTHCOM’s mission to protect U.S territorial integrity and sovereignty. The JTF-SB, created in March, coordinates military operations and supports the mission of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, according to the USNORTHCOM release.
The dates of the latest deployment have not yet been determined and troop levels may fluctuate as the mission evolves, the release stated.
Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of USNORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, cautioned that the threats have not subsided along the 3,145-kilometer border. “Transnational criminal organizations based in Mexico continue to threaten U.S. sovereignty and territorial integrity through the production and trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs and the facilitation of unlawful mass migration toward the U.S. southern border. Drug-related violence has escalated in recent years as rival cartels fight for control of lucrative drug and migrant smuggling routes and demonstrate a growing willingness to directly engage Mexican security forces, increasing the risk of spillover violence into the United States,” Guillot told members of the House Armed Services Committee in April 2025.