Navy deploys additional warship to curb illegal immigration, drug smuggling at the southern border

The Navy on Saturday announced another destroyer has 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.

The goal of the mission is to restore territorial integrity at the U.S. southern border, according to a statement from the Navy. 

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Spruance will enhance maritime efforts, support interagency collaboration and contribute to a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime-related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction and illegal seaborne immigration, according to the statement.

“USS Spruance’s deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command’s southern border mission brings additional capability and expands the geography of unique military capabilities working with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, USNORTHCOM commander. 

He added that with Spruance off the West Coast and the USS Gravely, a recently deployed destroyer in the Gulf of America, the Navy’s maritime presence “contributes to the all-domain, coordinated DOD response to the Presidential Executive Order and demonstrates our resolve to achieve operational control of the border.”

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Coast Guard officials told Fox News Digital earlier this month that hundreds of migrant boat encounters were logged near the San Diego coast in the last 90 days, prompting the allocation of additional resources.

Spruance will bring maritime capabilities to the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in response to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, a national emergency declaration and clarification of the military’s role in protecting the territorial integrity of the U.S.

The combatant command “continues to fill critical capabilities gaps in support of DHS and CBP,” according to the statement.

The destroyer will be accompanied by an embedded U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) created in 1982.

Coast Guard LEDETs carry out a variety of maritime interdiction missions, including counter-piracy, military combat operations, alien migration interdiction, military force protection, counter-terrorism, homeland security and humanitarian response. 

Spruance returned to Naval Base San Diego Dec. 19, 2024, after a five-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operation as part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG).

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The strike group was ordered to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to bolster U.S. military force posture in the Middle East, deter regional escalation, degrade Houthi capabilities, defend U.S. forces and sail alongside allies and partners to promote security, stability and prosperity, Navy officials said.

“Assigned destroyers of the ABECSG, to include Spruance, were essential to providing a layer of defense to U.S. forces and ensuring the safe passage of commercial vessels and partner nations transiting in international waterways like the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden,” according to the statement.