Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a new contingent of troops to help secure the southern border on Saturday, including an armored Stryker brigade combat team and a general air support battalion, totaling approximately 5,000 troops.

“These forces will arrive in the coming weeks and their deployment underscores the Department’s unwavering dedication to working alongside the Department of Homeland Security to secure our southern border and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell

“We are dead serious about 100% OPERATIONAL CONTROL of the southern border,” said Hegseth as the new border deployment was announced.

The Pentagon provided additional details on the units deployed to the border. The Stryker infantry team is built around the Stryker eight-wheeled armored vehicles, described as “lighter than tanks, yet more robust than light infantry.” These vehicles are versatile and capable of rapid responses.

That response time and versatility, according to the Pentagon, make the Stryker brigade ideal for defending the vast, open terrain around the border. Each Stryker brigade includes approximately 4,400 troops.

The aviation support battalion consists of approximately 650 troops and includes H-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook aircraft.

The new group of roughly 5,000 troops will join the 1,600 Marines and 2,500 reservists already deployed to the border under President Donald Trump’s orders.

The growing military presence at the border follows the U.S. officially designating a slew of South and Central American cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations, suggesting that the U.S. could take military action against them.