The military said two soldiers involved in operations near the border between the United States and Mexico were killed and another seriously injured in a car accident Tuesday morning.
The cause of the accident near Santa Teresa, New Mexico is under investigation, the Northern Command said in a statement on social media. Santa Teresa is in the suburbs of El Paso, Texas.
The military said the three soldiers have been deployed to support the joint task force on the southern border, where the border last month served as part of a Trump administration’s efforts to cut illegal transits.
The military did not release the names of the killed soldiers. The three soldiers were Marines who spoke anonymously and discussed operations.
Thousands of troops have been sent to the southwest border in recent months after President Trump ordered the military to increase the military's order to stop the flow of immigrants into the United States.
Mr. Trump declared an emergency at the border on the first day of his second term and promised to confront U.S. military with immigrants, drug cartels and smugglers. Later, about 1,600 Marines and Army soldiers were sent to border protection and joined 2,500 Army reserve personnel.
The other unit was dispatched in February and March, increasing the total number of active troops on the border to about 9,000, Defense Department officials said.
Vehicle accidents are a common cause of death in the U.S. military. The Office of Government Accountability, the independent federal oversight agency, said at least 123 service personnel were killed in non-telecommunications situations due to 3,753 accidents involving tactical vehicles from 2010 to 2019.
