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First wave of U.S. troops deployed to the southern border

US Military: 1,600 troops are now in place to assist Customs and Border Protection
First wave of troops deployed to southern border
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The deployment of the initial active-duty military personnel, which was announced last week, is now complete, according to the U.S. Northern Command.

The approximately 1,600 troops were deployed over the past week to integrate with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The service members come from Marine units in Camp Pendleton, CA, and Army units in Texas, Kentucky, New York, Georgia, Kansas, Colorado, and Washington. None of the units listed are Arizona-based.

These military forces will support detection and monitoring efforts and repair and replace fences and other physical barriers, according to U.S. Northern Command.

The additional troop deployments were announced by the Department of Defense last Wednesday, just days after Donald Trump was sworn in as president. They augment the 2,500 service members already supporting Customs and Border Protection’s southern border mission.

According to Customs and Border Protection, none of the troops deployed in the last few days are currently working along Arizona's border with Mexico although that could change in the coming days.

A military C-17 plane has been conducting deportation flights out of Tucson International Airport since last week.

A spokesperson for Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told ABC15 last week that he's concerned about how these border deployments can negatively impact military readiness. Sen. Kelly called on leaders in Congress last week to work together on long-lasting, bipartisan solutions to secure the border and fix our immigration system.