Border support operations, formerly known as Operation Faithful Patriot, are currently being conducted as a

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

domestic deployment and civil contingency at the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

. According to the

United States Northern Command The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for Civil authority, non-military authorities in t ...

, the operation is being conducted in order to prevent a potential border crossing of migrants from Central America. The existing National Guard ''Operation Guardian Support'' is also being reinforced.

Background

In early October 2018, several thousands of people fled gang violence from the

Northern Triangle of Central America The Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the three Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The term is used with respect to the countries' economic ...

(NTCA) on an overland journey north in three separate groups colloquially referred to them as "caravans". According to some in the caravans, their intention was to cross through

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and later into the U.S. border. In response to the northward migration, and according to ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'',

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

eventually made his decision to take a hard-line stance against

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

on the Mexican border.

Timeline

In April 2018, President Donald Trump ordered Operation Guardian Support, consisting of

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

forces voluntarily contributed by states, to assist the

United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is responsible for secu ...

in ongoing border security efforts. In October 2018, what was then known as Operation Faithful Patriot was initiated to provide

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

assistance to

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...

(CBP) in the

southwest United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

in confronting the approaching caravans. Trump ordered the operation on October 26, 2018, and

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...

Jim Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps four-star General (United States), gene ...

signed the deployment authorization later that day. According to General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy of the

, the operation involves the deployment of federal troops "to harden the southern border" and augment the National Guard forces already involved in aiding the CBP authorities along the United States' southwestern frontier. By October 29, 2018, approximately 800 soldiers of the initial contingent had been deployed, with military officials confirming the remainder would be in place by the end of that week. Citing an unnamed source,

KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial public radio station in San Francisco, California. It is simulcast on KQEI-FM (89.3 MHz) in the Sacramento metropolitan area. The parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns tw ...

reported the forces were being moved to marshaling areas in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and, from there, would respond to CBP positioning requests. In addition, the operation called for the supply of

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

-owned anti-riot gear to the CBP. On November 7, 2018, the Pentagon announced that the name Operation Faithful Patriot was no longer in use. Instead, the current deployment of troops will be simply referred to as "border support." Defense Secretary

ordered the name change the previous day because the original name had "political overtones." The bulk of the troops arrived in Texas which is hundreds of miles away from the caravans arriving in Tijuana. Under the

Posse Comitatus Act The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (, original at ) signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic pol ...

of 1878, federal troops are prohibited from carrying out

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

duties. During border support activities, they are not allowed to detain migrants or seize drugs. They have assisted the Border Patrol by maintaining vehicles. Other duties have included using

military helicopters A military helicopter is a helicopter that is either specifically designed for or converted for usage by a military. A military helicopter's mission is a function of its design or conversion. The most common use of military helicopters is airlif ...

to carry border patrol agents to and from locations along the U.S.-Mexico border and operating cranes to install towering panels of metal bars. They have also strung

concertina wire Concertina wire or Dannert wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina. In conjunction with plain barbed wire (and/or razor wire/tape) and steel pickets, it is most oft ...

and wrapped it around barriers to reinforce the border. On January 31, 2019, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan announced that additional troops, likely several thousand, would be deployed to the border. The deployment was expanded to roughly 6,000 troops, drawn from the Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy, and their stay was extended through September 2019. By March, a plan was being prepared to ask the Defense Department for more federal troops to help with migrant processing, transportation and medical care in high-crossing areas. The draft plan includes using Defense Department land to house migrants in detention sites. On March 23, 2020, in spite of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

across the U.S. and worldwide, Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell said that the Pentagon “has no plans to pull units off the border for coronavirus response” and the Defense Department confirmed that the troops at the border were authorized to stay there through September 30, 2020.

Army units assigned

As of October 29, 2018, a full list of units participating in border support operations had not been released, but activated forces were said to include

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

, in addition to combat aviation,

combat engineer A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, Tunnel warfare, tunnel and l ...

, medical, and

civil affairs Civil Affairs (CA) is a term used by both the United Nations and by military institutions (such as the U.S. military), but for different purposes in each case. Civil Affairs in United Nations Peace Operations Civil Affairs officers in UN Peace ...

units totaling approximately 5,000 U.S. soldiers and 2,000 National Guard troops who are already deployed as part of the existing Operation Guardian Support. A surge force consisting of an additional 7,000 troops had been placed on "24-hour notice" to reinforce the frontier if those personnel proved inadequate.

Active Army

1st MLG 7TH ENGINEER SUPPORT BATTLION SUPPORT COMPANY MOTOR TRANSPORT PLT * 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Rakkasans)

1st Engineer Battalion

* 41st Engineer Company

16th Military Police Brigade

* 503rd Military Police Battalion (ABN, -65th Military Police Company -108th Military Police Company * 91st Military Police Battalion -563rd Military Police Company *42nd Military Police Brigade -66th Military Police Company

36th Engineer Brigade

* 62nd Engineer Battalion

89th Military Police Brigade

* Headquarters and Headquarters Company * 287th Military Police Company * 212th Military Police Company * 591st Military Police Company * 977th Military Police Company

63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion

30px *Charlie Company

3rd Combat Aviation Brigade (Hunter Army Airfield)

2nd Battalion 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade Fort Bragg, NC, Alpha/Charlie Air Assault Assault Companies, D Co Aviation maint support 2nd Battalion Bravo General Support 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne DIV

3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment

HHT A Troop B Troop D Forward Sustainment Troop

National Guard

The existing National Guard mission being reinforced is Operation Guardian Support. The National Guard mission is operating in four task forces: Task Force Anzio, Task Force Salerno, Task Force Defender, and Task Force Aviation. The National Guards of Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi have contributed forces to the operation. Virginia, an early contributor to the operation, withdrew its forces in June 2018 on the order of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Ralph Northam Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...

. 285th Aviation Regiment (Arizona) * 2nd Battalion Alpha/Bravo Air Assault Assault Companies

72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team The 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team is a unit of the Texas Army National Guard and is subordinate to the 36th Infantry Division. Early history The 72nd Infantry Brigade was organized at Camp Bowie, Texas, in July, 1917. A unit of the 36th Infa ...
(Texas)

* 536th Brigade Support Battalion (elements)

114th Aviation Regiment The 114th Aviation Regiment is an aviation regiment of the United States Army. Structure The following units are part of the regiment: * 1st Battalion (Security & Support) Headquarters and Headquarters Company ( ARARNG) Company A (ARARNG ...
(Mississippi)

* 1st Security and Support Aviation Battalion (elements)

133rd Field Artillery Regiment (Texas)

* 3rd Field Artillery Battalion (elements)

151st Aviation Regiment (South Carolina)

* 2nd Security and Support Aviation Battalion (elements)

Service medal

The

Armed Forces Service Medal The Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM) is a military award of the United States military that was created on January 11, 1996, by President Bill Clinton under . The AFSM is a deployed service medal that is presented to those service members who ...

will be awarded to troops who have deployed to the border. The AFSM may be awarded to service members who have participated, as members of U.S. military units, in a designated U.S. military operation deemed to be a significant activity and encounter no foreign armed opposition or imminent hostile action.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faithful Patriot, Operation Non-combat military operations involving the United States Northern Triangle refugee crisis October 2018 in the United States Immigration policy of Donald Trump First presidency of Donald Trump Articles containing video clips