The Trump administration has ordered thousands more troops to the border. But law enforcement officials and lawmakers from both parties say not much has changed yet — in part because much of the border had a major military and Border Patrol presence already.
“There’s always movement with the military there. So to be honest with you, I can’t tell you if there has been or there hasn’t been” more military in town, said Jose Duran, sergeant at the Eagle Pass Police Department and president of the Eagle Pass Police Association.
Eagle Pass’ heavy military and border agent presence started well before President Donald Trump took office. In January 2024, it was the scene of a political and legal fight between border agents and troops that took control of the city’s Shelby Park, and in May, the state opened a new base there for the National Guard.
This week, the Trump administration used Eagle Pass as a symbol of its military might at the border. Vice President JD Vance, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, visited Shelby Park on Wednesday to discuss record low border crossing figures.
“The Defense Department has assets that we can bring to bear – not just troops, not just surveillance, not just equipment, but actual planning and capabilities that enhance what Border Patrol is already doing,” Hegseth said at a press conference at Shelby Park. “More resources are coming to this border. We are dedicated to securing it. That’s the reason for our trip and our partnership.”
Trump has made the military central to his deportation efforts. The military can’t actually detain migrants, and critics have said the influx of troops is more about a show of force — possibly a deterrent — than actual changes to an already heavily militarized border region.
The military has provided support to the region for years. Under the Biden administration, there were 24,000 border officers and agents and roughly 4,000 troops at the border, not including National Guard members deployed by states. Since Trump took office, including the recent announcement from Hegseth, the administration has said they’ll send as many as 4,500 more.
“The reality is that our border communities are already incredibly militarized. You can’t leave Las Cruces to either the east, north or the west without encountering internal border patrol checkpoints,” said Las Cruces, New Mexico’s Democratic Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo. “I see Border Patrol vans in my community all the time.”
Even Trump supporters, including Duran, said they hadn’t noticed a significant change in troops at the border.
“I know for Kinney County, we just have the same National Guard we’ve had for the past three years,” said Texas Sheriff Brad Coe, who supports Trump.
Asked if anything had changed in Las Cruces, Bencomo said, “not particularly. It’s been unusually warm.”
The attitude was the same in Congress, where even most Republican lawmakers who are supportive of Trump’s moves weren’t sure if the military had been sent to the border in their state.
“I don’t have any new information on the troops that are down at the border,” said Sen. John Cornyn.
Democrats, who don’t support the move, said that proves it’s all for show.
“Everybody says they’re there. I haven’t seen them. I’ve been down to the border now many, many times. I haven’t seen anything change,” said Rep. Juan Vargas, who represents part of the border by San Diego. “It’s all show, and this is just the bluffery that we always see from this administration.”
The military has taken actions at the border, including in San Diego. San Diego’s Border Patrol posted photos of the Department of Defense helping put up concertina wire. And the Trump administration used military plans for some deportation flights — which the White House has posted about — but that practice was reportedly suspended due to the high cost.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Defense responded to requests for comment.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, who represents a large swath of Texas’ border with Mexico, said he had received word about troops being deployed, and that some have already been sent to the El Paso area through Biggs Army Airfield. He said most of what they’re doing is engineering or security.
He said even with numbers at the border being so low, the military presence helped as a deterring force.
“A big part of the reason why the numbers are low is because of President Trump’s posturing. That’s half the battle,” he said. “It’s not only the numbers being low, they need to stay low. So what he’s done is working, and I think it’d be a good idea to keep it working.”
While El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said in a statement that he hasn’t seen an increase in military personnel, Sheriff Ronny Dodson of Brewster County, a bit further south, said he had heard that new officers were coming to the Big Bend sector, which stretches hundreds of miles, but he wasn’t sure where. He said some of them were being deputized under Title 8, which allows law enforcement not typically able to enforce immigration law to do so.
But even with expanded enforcement abilities, he wasn’t sure there was much for them to do.
“Our flow is down to a trickle, I mean, just a drop,” he said. “When they get here they might be bored.”
In Texas, in particular, there is an overlapping web of different enforcement agencies. There are Texas rangers, the National Guard, DHS officers, Border Patrol, Texas state troopers, sheriffs and local police. Part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star diverted more National Guard and other law enforcement to the border, and gave money to local departments to help Border Patrol.
“I don’t even think that it’s necessary,” said Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat. He represents part of the state’s border region. He said when you talk to those who work along the border, they say the extra hands are “not just duplicative, but oftentimes, they get in the way.”
“You need immigration officers. You need people that understand how to be able to process migrants and so on. This is not just about arresting people,” he said. He added that sending more troops “is nothing more than just the same ridiculous theatrical show that we’ve seen from this governor. I expect that we’ll see the same kind of theater from this president.”
Some officers along the border defended the use of the military, even if they hadn’t noticed it in their own districts.
“I wish my little town would go back to being normal,” Eagle Pass’ Duran said. “But I mean, I want it to be safe too. It’s necessary, I think.”
And, as the numbers of crossings at the border are low, several expressed concern that if the administration is seen as pulling back, the situation will devolve again. Coe said the military should be used even if there aren’t many people to look out for. He described it as “hurry up and wait.”
“It’s just a part of military life. As long as they’re on the border securing things, being active, they can be bored at the same time,” Coe said. “It’s just part of what they have to do.”
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Casey Murray is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.