WASHINGTON—Today, The Heritage Foundation released a special report titled “How the President Can Use the U.S. Military to Confront the Catastrophic Threat at the Border with Mexico.” The report provides a blueprint for employing the Department of Defense to confront the escalating threats at the southern border as conditions deteriorate and Mexico’s cooperation remains tenuous at best.

Heritage Director of the Allison Center for National Security and author of the report Robert Greenway stated:

“The Trump administration has already taken critical steps to secure the border and begin deportations thanks to Border Czar Tom Homan, but the massive scale of the Biden border crisis and the resulting fentanyl epidemic will require resources beyond the scale of our law enforcement agencies.

“Since 1916, our military has been used to supplement border security, surveillance, construction, and deportation operations. Our military can also expand its efforts to train, advise, and equip foreign partners engaged in border security.If required, the president can employ our forces directly against the Mexican cartels.

“As President Trump has long asserted, all resources available to the U.S. government must be employed to restore our nation’s borders and reduce the threats to Americans’ lives.This includes the Department of Defense.”

Below are some key takeaways:

• Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives the president authority to use the U.S. military to protect the sovereign territory of the United States from an uncontrolled incursion of foreign nationals across America’s southern border whenever the president determines that such incursions pose a threat to U.S. citizens, sovereignty, or national security.
• There are a variety of ways in which the U.S. military can be employed more appropriately in defense of the U.S. border, ranging from preventing the incursion of illegal migrants into the United States, bolstering intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capacities at the border, and confronting the cartels at the U.S. border.
• The U.S. military has played a significant role in managing past migration and refugee crises—including the Haitian migration crises of the 1990s and the refugee resettlement after the Vietnam War. Military facilities and resources have been crucial to managing the large-scale flow of foreign nationals to the U.S.
• U.S. military facilities can play a central role in the management of detention and deportation. Currently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has funding for just 41,500 detainee beds. U.S. military bases have been used to house large groups of alien detainees on numerous occasions—including from 2012 to 2017, when some 16,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) were housed at bases across the country, and during the Biden Administration, when UACs hit historic high numbers.
• To implement these priorities, the federal government will need to allocate or shift additional funding to The President’s Defense Budget Request for FY 2026 and eventual FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Heritage Senior Policy Analyst for Latin America and author Andrés Martínez-Fernández and Policy Advisor for Defense Budgeting and author Wilson Beaver stated:

“Now, more than ever, the U.S. must engage in serious planning and preparation for an enhanced and scalable military role in confronting the broad array of threats at the U.S. border with Mexico.

“While the Department of Defense has supported the Department of Homeland Security in the past, much more can and should be done. This report provides actions for the Trump administration to lawfully and effectively enhance the military’s role at the border.

“Congress must also act swiftly to ensure adequate funding is allocated or redirected to facilitate these critical recommendations.”