Trump border policy updates: President orders 1500 military troops to border

President Donald Trump's major changes to the immigration system and along the southern border have continued into the third day of his administration.

The border continues to remain open despite what President Trump has claimed.

However, the border has been closed to migrants seeking asylum through ports of entry as the new administration seeks to re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols, commonly known as the "Remain in Mexico" program. The measure was first implemented during the first Trump administration and required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as their cases advanced.

Here is an update from the El Paso border region:

Trump sends military troops to border

Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Defense will deploying 1500 active duty troops to the southern border as part of President Trump's state of emergency.

Military troops are part of President Trump's crackdown on immigration and border security. This is part of his plans to declare gangs, such as Central America's MS-13, and drug cartels as terrorists organizations, and invoke the 1798 "Aliens Enemies act" to target and remove gang members.

The announcement also states that the department will be include four military cargo planes to deport 5000 migrants currently in Customs and Border Protection custody. The deportation flights are set to leave from San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas.

Mexico begins to construct structures to receive deported Mexican Nationals

Mexico has started to construct temporary faculties in cities across the country's northern border with the United States in preparation to receive Mexican nationals who are deported as part of President Trump's mass deportation campaign.

"The reception centers on the border are being installed," Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told the press on Wednesday as she started her morning press conference.

The reception center in Juárez began on Tuesday. The facility is near the Paso del Norte border crossing.

She has directed members of her cabinet to supervise the construction of the centers.

President Sheinbaum also announced that she had spoken with Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman on Tuesday and with in-coming Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what she called "a very cordial" call.

Deportations at the southern border

Mexico received 50 Mexican migrants deported from the United States in Juárez on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

They are the first to enter the "Mexico embraces you" program, which was formed by President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration to address the needs of migrants returned to Mexico. At least three federal shelters are in Juárez, and a temporary structure is currently under construction.

But deportations of Mexican nationals at the border are common.

There were 190,491 Mexicans returned between January and November 2024, according to data from the Mexican government. In that same period, 12,388 Mexicans were returned to Juárez.

The United States has agreements to carry out deportations to other countries to around the globe. These flights are carried out via removal flights chartered by the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency, commonly referred to as ICE Air.

Biden's final year saw a historic 271,484 noncitizens deported in the 12 months of fiscal year 2024, which began in October of the previous year. In the same period there were 1564 removal flights, according to data compiled by Witness at the Border.

The first few days of the Trump administration have seen a sharp decrease than the averages during the Biden administration, according groups that track deportation flights.

"Deportation flights have actually been in the low range of typical," Tom Cartwright, who tracks deportation flights with Witness at the Border, said. "We will see what the next week brings."

DC Bishop calls for compassion

A Washington, D.C. bishop called for mercy on those who may be feeling anxious about the rapid policy changes.

Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde urged President Trump during an interfaith service in Washington, D.C. to have mercy on the people who may be feeling anxious.

Trump seethed on Wednesday at the bishop's words. He called her a "Radical Left hard line Trump hater" who "brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way" in a post on his Truth Social account.

Anxieties have increased in immigrant and minority communities following Trump's flurry of executive orders, which largely target immigrants and members of the LGBTQ communities.

The El Paso Diocese raised concern Tuesday over several of the new administration's orders and actions that affect the Borderland, including the announcement of reactivating the MPP and the State Department's removal of policy that respected "sensitive locations," such as schools, churches, and hospitals.

"The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy strikes fear into the heart of ourcommunity, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking healthcareand dropping off and picking up children at school," El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz said in a press statement Tuesday. "Whatever your faith and wherever you come from, we make your anxieties and fears at this moment our own."

Border communities respond to Trump's reversal on sensitive locations

Local governments and States along the southern border with Mexico are responding to the Trump administration's reversal on "sensitive locations."

The New Mexico Department of Justice issued new guidance to protect spaces like schools, churches, and hospitals to ensure the continued accessibility of these spaces for families with irregular immigration status. The measures seek to uphold Fourth Amendment rights, work with communities to ensure safety, and collaborate with local community leaders.

“I support enhanced border security and targeted enforcement operations focused on cartel members, violent criminals and anyone who represents a national security risk to our nation,” New Mexico's Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a press release Wednesday. “But rounding up children, crime victims and sick people is beneath the dignity of a great nation.”  

The attorney general's office also condemned Trump's threat of federal prosecution of state and local officials who do not participate in the administration's immigration enforcement policies, calling the move "illegal."

The city of El Paso is seeking to ease anxieties over the possibility of immigration raids carried out by the Trump administration. El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson, who took office on Jan. 6, promised residents that local authorities would not participate in immigration raids.

"I want everyone to know in El Paso that you are in a safe community," Johnson said in a press conference Wednesday. "I want you to go about your day to day routines."

Jeff Abbott covers the border for The El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@gannett.com;@palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or@palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.