---
title: "The Pentagon Isn’t Sure How Many Additional Troops Are Headed To The US-Mexico Border"
date: "2018-10-27"
modified: "2018-10-27"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller.md"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/pentagon-troop-deployment-mexico-border/"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# The Pentagon Isn’t Sure How Many Additional Troops Are Headed To The US-Mexico Border

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/18990893-1.jpg>)

The Department of Defense has not yet determined how many additional U.S. service members it will send to secure the Southwest border with Mexico, a defense official told Task & Purpose on Saturday.

- In a Saturday tweet, DoD spokesman Dana White declared media reports that the Pentagon planned on deploying "800 or 1000" additional troops to back up the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's Operation Guardian Support mission — numbers previously floated by U.S. government officials — as "inaccurate."

https://twitter.com/ChiefPentSpox/status/1056168924562276353

- When reached for comment by Task & Purpose, a Pentagon official stated that the DoD was still working out the details of the new deployment and would have "a better idea" of new troops levels within the coming days.
- "We don’t have a specific number," the official said. "At this point would advise straying from any number."
- The fresh assistance for civilian law enforcement, officially confirmed by the Pentagon on Friday, came after President Donald Trump [tweeted](<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055414972635926528>) Thursday that he was "bringing out the military" to secure the Southwestern border from a caravan of Central American immigrants currently headed for the United States.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055414972635926528

- The ambiguity here is unsurprising: According to Friday [report](<https://www.thedailybeast.com/bolton-kept-dhs-in-the-dark-in-his-push-to-seal-the-border-against-the-migrant-caravan>) from The Daily Beast, National Security Adviser John Bolton has [spearheaded](<https://www.thedailybeast.com/bolton-kept-dhs-in-the-dark-in-his-push-to-seal-the-border-against-the-migrant-caravan>) the push while explicitly avoiding input from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly or Secretary of Defense James Mattis — namely because the latter "has slow-rolled responding in the past."

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![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-1079.png>)

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/jaredbkeller>)  
[Facebook](<https://www.facebook.com/jaredbkeller>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredbkeller/>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/jaredbkelller/>)

## More

- [Active Duty Troops To Mobilize In Rare Deployment To US-Mexico Border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/active-duty-troops-mexico-border.md>)
- [House Democrat Says 3,500 More Troops Are Heading To The US-Mexico Border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/more-border-troops.md>)
- [The Pentagon Finally Disclosed A Fresh Deployment Of Troops To The US-Mexico Border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/pentagon-finally-reveals-discloses-fresh-deployment-of-troops-to-the-us-mexico-border.md>)
- [Pentagon extends deployment of 400 troops along US-Mexico border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-troops-extended-mexico-border.md>)
- [More Than 5,200 Active-Duty Troops Are Heading To The US-Mexico Border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/5000-troops-us-mexico-border.md>)
- [Stryker Brigade Combat Team, additional troops, ordered to southern border](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-soldiers-southern-border.md>)
- [No, the National Guard isn’t planning a national quarantine or imposing martial law](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/martial-law-not-coming.md>)
- [Key Democrat To Trump: No, The Military Isn’t Going To Build Your Border Wall](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/democrat-says-military-not-build-border-wall.md>)