Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth connected Monday visited the southern border, declaring a "new epoch of determination" arsenic the Trump medication doubles down connected its efforts to unafraid the borderline and halt amerciable immigration.
"Because of President Donald Trump, this is simply a caller epoch astatine the confederate border, a caller epoch of determination, a caller epoch of cooperation. And astatine the Defense Department, we are arrogant to beryllium a portion of it," Hegseth told reporters astatine a property league successful El Paso, Texas aft Hegseth had toured the border.
Hegseth emphasized that, alternatively than focusing connected overseas territory, the medication wanted to absorption archetypal connected U.S. sovereignty.
"Guys and gals of my procreation person spent decades successful overseas countries guarding different people's borders. It's astir clip we unafraid our ain border," helium said.
Trump deployed the U.S. subject to the borderline connected his archetypal time successful office, with implicit 1,500 troops joining forces already there. It’s portion of a blitz that has correlated with a crisp driblet successful encounters astatine the confederate border.
Hegseth said the men and women dispatched to the borderline are excited to beryllium there.
"They're motivated to beryllium present due to the fact that they're defending their friends, their family, their communities, their church, their schools, their loved ones from an penetration of radical whose intentions we don't know," helium said. "We are going to get power of this border."
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Hegseth’s sojourn to the confederate borderline is the latest migration-focused travel by a Trump Cabinet official.
His travel comes aft DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was astatine the confederate borderline successful Del Rio, Texas connected Saturday. She said she was determination to spot "firsthand what’s happening and however we tin champion enactment our Border Patrol agents."
"Under President [Trump] the days of unfastened borders are over," she said.
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Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had a migration-packed archetypal week successful office, near Saturday for his archetypal overseas travel to Latin America.
His sojourn includes trips to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. He is expected to instrumentality Thursday, and issues including migration, cause trafficking and pack unit are expected to beryllium astatine the apical of his agenda.
Hegseth spoke alongside borderline czar Tom Homan, who said what was occurring with the usage of the subject and different authorities agencies to facilitate information and deportations is simply a "game changer."
"We volition yet win and person an operational power of our confederate borderline with this president successful charge," helium said.