President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday that the plan is to keep troops along the border or at least “a large portion of them” until his administration can build a wall. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Arizona governor: 150 troops to be sent to Mexico border ‘next week’

One hundred and fifty National Guard members will be dispatched to the U.S.-Mexico border next week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said on Friday, the first troop deployment announced as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to curb illegal immigration into the U.S.

“Our office is working closely with @AZNationalGuard, @DeptofDefense and @DHSgov on plans to deploy approximately 150 national guard members to the border next week,” Ducey, a Republican, wrote on Twitter . The governor said the move would be made in conjunction with the state’s National Guard, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.


Later Friday night, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of Defense James Mattis confirmed that National Guard troops had begun to deploy to the southwest border.

"Working closely with the border governors, the Department of Homeland Security identified security vulnerabilities that could be addressed by the National Guard. We appreciate the governors' support and are dedicated to working with them to secure the national borders," they said in a joint statement. "Together, the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense are committed to using every lever of power to support the men and women of law enforcement defending our nation's sovereignty and protecting the American people. We will continue to work with the governors to deploy the necessary resources until our nation's borders are secure."

The president on Wednesday signed a proclamation directing administration officials to prepare to deploy the National Guard to the southern U.S. border, an initiative announced as part of Trump’s plan to tighten border security.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Wednesday that the timing of troop deployment was still “being finalized” but that officials were “working with all haste” to implement the measure. The DHS chief said officials were looking to deploy National Guard members “immediately” but declined to outline a specific timetable, saying the decision would be made in conjunction with state officials.

Though the Trump administration did not originally specify how many troops would be deployed, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that the number could be anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000. Trump said the plan is to keep troops along the border or at least “a large portion of them” until his administration can deliver on its promise of building a wall.

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Trump said that all the troops “or a large portion of them” would be kept along the border until a wall was built.

Trump’s two immediate predecessors, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, also deployed troops to the border. Bush sent roughly 6,000 armed National Guard members to assist Customs and Border Protection officials from 2006 to 2008. Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard members to the border, primarily to help with surveillance, in 2010.

Nielsen said the troops would serve functions similar to those they performed along the border under past administrations, including assisting in aerial surveillance and providing support functions to current patrol officials.

The White House announced later on Friday that Trump had signed a memorandum directing the end of “catch and release,” the practice of letting unauthorized immigrants go pending hearings, rather than keeping them in custody.

The DHS secretary, along with the the secretary of defense, the attorney general and the secretary of health and human services, will submit a report to the president detailing how the departments have pursued to end catch-and-release practices within 45 days, according to the memo.

The DHS secretary will also have to submit a separate report within 60 days detailing all measures being taken “against countries that refuse to expeditiously accept the repatriation of their nationals.”

