Operation Faithful Patriot deploys 5,200 active-duty troops to border

Timeline Eventconfirmed
military-deploymentpolitical-influenceposse-comitatusmidterm-electionsborder-militarizationactive-duty-troops
Executive Power ExpansionMilitary-Industrial ComplexElectoral Manipulation
Actors:101st Airborne Division, Military police battalions, Combat engineers, Pentagon, Trump Administration, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
2018-10-01 · US-Mexico Border · 1 min read

Trump ordered 5,200 active-duty troops to border with additional 7,000 on 24-hour deployment notice. Politically charged name dropped after two weeks, reverting to "border support" after criticism. Deployment occurred just before midterm elections, with potential scale of up to 15,000 troops, matching the size of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan at the time.

Sources

  1. Pentagon deployment ordersDepartment of Defense(2018-10-29)
  2. GAO cost analysis of deploymentGAO(2019-06-01)
  3. Pentagon sending 5,200 troops to the border in 'Operation Faithful Patriot'NBC News(2018-10-29)
  4. DoD drops border deployment name, no longer calling it 'Faithful Patriot'Military Times(2018-11-07)