Overview

• Approximately 8,500 service members are deployed under Joint Task Force Southern Border to bolster U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations at the Mexico frontier.
• Since its March formation, the task force has carried out more than 3,500 patrols, including over 150 joint missions with CBP and Mexican forces.
• Between June 28 and 30, operations recorded zero gotaways across the entire southern border, signaling increased interception efficiency.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Air Force to establish a 250-mile National Defense Area in South Texas and the Navy to control a 140-mile NDA near Yuma, Arizona, raising the total to four military zones.
• Civil rights organizations warn that granting troops authority to detain migrants for trespassing under the NDAs may breach the Posse Comitatus Act and erode the line between military and law enforcement roles.