Under orders from the Trump administration, the Pentagon is deploying 3,000 more troops and armored Stryker vehicles to the U.S. border with Mexico.  The orders expand current operations and to “seal the border and protect the territorial integrity of the United States,” officials said.

The additional troops will to bring the current troops level at the border to more than 9,000 service members to work with federal and state law enforcement agencies previously deployed.

The move was ordered by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who posted on social media, “We are dead serious about 100% OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the southern border.”

A prepared statement from the U.S. Department of Defense revealed that the troops being sent to the border include a Stryker Brigade Combat Team and a General Support Aviation Battalion.

As Breitbart Texas has reported, since the start of his administration, U.S. President Donald Trump has deployed thousands of active duty soldiers and Marines to the U.S. Mexico border, citing a “National Emergency.” Most recently, government data shows that the aggressive measures and policies implemented by the Trump administration appear to have been responsible for a sharp decline in migrant apprehensions at the border.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.