Overview

• An August 13 Pentagon memo establishes the Mexican Border Defense Medal for service members supporting Customs and Border Protection along the U.S.–Mexico border.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the decoration revives a 1918 border medal and stated he expects to begin presenting it soon.
• Eligible personnel must have deployed since January 20 within 100 nautical miles of the land border or up to 24 nautical miles offshore for 30 cumulative or consecutive days.
• The medal substitutes for the Armed Forces Service Medal for this mission, and those previously awarded the AFSM for such service may apply to exchange it, but they cannot hold both for the same period.
• Roughly 8,500 troops are assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border, which began in March and completed about 3,500 patrols through July, operating in areas that include newly designated National Defense Areas under military jurisdiction.