US warship deployed amid efforts to protect southern border

• The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, is now deployed at the southern border as part of the Pentagon’s efforts to tamp down on those entering the country illegally, as well as drug trafficking. The Department of Defense says the ship, most recently deployed to the Middle East, is now serving a new mission to protect U.S. “territorial integrity, sovereignty and security.”
• A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment is also on board to help make sure the operation runs smoothly.
• President Donald Trump has ramped up efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border since returning to the White House.

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The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer, has now been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Pentagon’s efforts to curb drug trafficking and illegal entries into the United States.

A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Attachment is also on board to help make sure the operation runs smoothly. The attachment is a specialized U.S. Coast Guard policing team.

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What’s happening at the border?

President Donald Trump has ramped up efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border since returning to the White House, signing a flurry of executive orders to bulk up security and designating international drug cartels and other transnational criminal enterprises as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).

The Trump administration has also deployed thousands of troops to the region, and as Straight Arrow News previously reported, U.S. spy agencies also sent reconnaissance planes to spot drug labs in Mexico.

What will the USS Gravely do?

The deployment of the 509-foot guided missile destroyer takes recent efforts a step further, with the DOD describing it as a significant move to allow the U.S. Navy to serve a direct role in taking out threats before they reach American shores.

The Gravely is larger and much more well-armed than the Coast Guard’s patrol cutters. The ship’s guided missile armaments include Tomahawk cruise missiles and several types of anti-air and anti-surface weapons.

The destroyer recently returned to the United States after a nine-month mission against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea near Yemen.

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What is the Trump administration saying?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and “border czar” Tom Homan have vowed to use the military in combatting illegal entries into the U.S., as well as criminal cartel actions.

Homan said the administration will use “any assets necessary at the Defense Department to support the expulsion of those in the country illegally.”