Trump orders Smoky Mountain park rangers to help secure the U.S. Mexico border

President Donald Trump has ordered rangers from some of the nation's largest national parks, including the Great Smoky Mountains, to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border to help stop drug traffickers and illegal immigration.

The orders have come as Congress has refused to fund Trump’s border wall — the signature promise of his presidential campaign.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was asked to send two park rangers for two-week details at the border, but only sent one, according to an in-depth USA TODAY report. The park has been asked to send two rangers to the border next year, said park spokeswoman Dana Soehn.

The USA TODAY Network has also confirmed rangers have been sent from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Rocky Mountain National Park, Zion National Park, Shenandoah National Park and others. Most rangers have been detailed to one of two border sites: Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona and Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas.

The program sending park rangers to the border — officially known as Department of Interior-Border Support Surge — began as a pilot program in May 2018, then expanded in October amid record numbers of border crossings. Park officials say they’ve been told they should continue sending rangers to the border through September 2020.

For more information on this story, read USA TODAY's full report on park rangers being detailed to the U.S.-Mexican border.