Donald Trump’s White House administration has ordered “several thousand” more troops to the US-Mexico border, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Acting Defense Department Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the latest dispatch of troops to the southern border would occur “soon” following a new request from the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, reports indicate the president’s demands for an increased US military presence along the border are expected to cost American taxpayers over $600m (£458m).

Mr Trump’s “Operation Faithful Patriot,” which sent more than 5,000 military personnel to the region just before the 2018 midterm elections, has already reportedly cost taxpayers nearly $235m (£180m); $132m (£101) for active duty troops and $103m for the National Guard.

Pentagon officials have said the increased troop presence throughout the 2019 fiscal year will cost taxpayers an additional $448m (£342m).

The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Show all 15 1 /15 The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Texas and Mexico are connected by entry points like these. US Border Patrol in Laredo, Texas conducts daily patrols throughout the Rio Grande, snaking between the US and Mexico, where it searches for migrants and drug traffickers. The legal entry point to Mexico can be seen above the riverines frequently used by cartels to funnel narcotics into the US. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol US Customs and Border Protection oversees its side of the entry point. US Customs and Border Protection officers oversee the processing of nearly two million trucks and three million pedestrians annually at the Laredo sector, which also processes the majority of trade between the US and Mexico. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The Rio Grande snakes between Mexico and the United States. The US and Mexico have bordering coastlines in Laredo Texas, where the Rio Grande's occasionally rough currents splash onto both nations' shores. For migrants attempting to enter into either country, the swim is much more dangerous than it appears. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Drug traffickers and migrants use "highways" to cross the border. US Border Patrol agents call worn pathways like these "highways," as they are frequently used by drug traffickers and migrants entering into the US. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The journey is still far from over. If they're able to make it onto land, many obstacles still remain for migrants and drug traffickers. US Border Patrol agents are equipped with high-tech security, K-9 units and aerial camera footage surveilling 40 miles of borderlands. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Border Patrol uses classic methods and high-tech to surveil the border. A control room at the Laredo sector headquarters is fully-manned 24/7 with a team of local employees who alert agents on the ground of border crossings in real-time. Their cameras live-stream 40 miles of the 170 mile territory the sector covers. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The US provides trusted traveler programs on both its southern and northern borders. Officers lead the way to Sentri offices, which runs a trusted traveller program from US and Mexican local residents who regularly cross the border for work or leisure purposes. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The pathway to freedom. Once travellers are processed, they walk up this ramp towards the US. Many Mexicans cross the border each day with collapsable shopping carts to buy goods while visiting the country. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol But first, the wait. A dog waits for their owner to go through processing with US Customs and Border Patrol. On a good day, processing can take under an hour. On a bad day, well, there's just no telling how long one might be stuck inside the Laredo sector field offices. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The first lady of CBP. Inside the Laredo field offices, US Border Patrol agents keep a framed photo of Christine Davis, the first female agent to join the federal agency in 1975. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol "The hall of fame." US Border Patrol also honors those who have served in the agency for over thirty years. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Officers inspect a vehicle in secondary processing. Outside, officers are conducting secondary inspection on a vehicle that's been pulled aside for further investigating. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol The waiting room for detained migrants. A US Customs and Border Protection officer shows the inside of a holding room where people requiring further questioning go through secondary processing. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol A man and his daughter go through processing. US Customs and Border Protection also regularly provides humanitarian visas and other temporary permissions for people with valid reasons seeking entry to the US. Here, a father and his daughter await to see whether they will be provided one of those visas. Chris Riotta The Independent goes on a ride-along with US Border Patrol Laredo processes over three million pedestrians annually. Thousands of legal asylum seekers, migrants and refugees seek entry to the US through the southern border annually, where they go through processing at offices like this after arriving at a legal port of entry. For many, the trip can take days, if not weeks or even months. Chris Riotta

The latest deployment could surpass 2,000 troops, officials told Reuters. They said it was unlikely the level of active duty troops along the border would return to the peak of nearly 6,000 in November of last year.

“Most recently, DHS has asked us to support them in additional concertina wire, and then expanded surveillance capability,” Mr Shanahan said during an off-camera press briefing on Tuesday.

He added, “And we’ve responded with, you know, ‘Here’s how many people it would take, and this is the timing we’d be able ― timing and mix of the people to support that.’”

The renewed military presence in the region arrives as the federal government reopens for three weeks of negotiations surrounding border security. The government was closed for 35 days — the longest shutdown in US history — due to the president’s demands for $5.7bn (£4.3bn) to be included in the next federal spending bill towards building a wall in the region.

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A group of bipartisan lawmakers have begun reportedly negotiating the issue, though it remains unclear whether any discussions will lead to a bill the president might support.