Navy Warships Deployed to the Border

The Navy on Saturday announced another destroyer had been sent to the southern border to aid in the ongoing maritime efforts to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

Navy officials said the USS Spruance, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, departed Naval Base San Diego Saturday to support southern border operations.

According to a Navy statement, the mission aims to restore territorial integrity at the US southern border.

U.S. Northern Command announced that the Gravely will be sailing with a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, or LEDET, team on board. According to Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, Joint Staff director for operations, sailors are expected to work closely with LEDET personnel during drug trafficking interdictions.

What is noteworthy about recent developments is not that Navy warships are being used for drug interdiction missions or to counteract transnational crime, but the speed and concentration with which they are being deployed to this area reports The Military Times.

While many Americans are well aware of drugs entering the country via overland routes across the U.S. land border with Mexico, fewer know the prevalence of maritime drug trafficking and the methods of stifling it.

Criminal organizations use a wide variety of vessels and seaborne craft to get illicit drugs into the U.S. These can include fishing boats and submersibles, which are being increasingly operated remotely using new technology.

We usually protect other people’s borders, like Ukraine’s. We’ve built border walls in Jordan.

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