Biden Authorizes Southern Border Deployment of Reservist Troops

DHS, State Department announce additional measures

President Joe Biden speaks with a member of the Border Patrol as they walk along the U.S.–Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden authorized the deployment of reserve troops to the southern border to combat “international drug trafficking” under the National Emergencies Act in an executive order signed April 27.

The executive order authorizes the secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to order to active duty reserve troops as they “consider necessary.”