Washington | The Pentagon will begin deploying as many as 1500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, US officials said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration.

Acting Defence Secretary Robert Salesses was expected to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), but it wasn’t yet clear which troops or units would go, and the total could fluctuate. It remains to be seen if they will act as law enforcement, which would put American troops in a dramatic new role, not done in recent history.

AP