The Pentagon is creating a "border security support cell" staffed round-the-clock by Department of Defense officials as National Guard troops prepare to deploy, officials said Thursday.
The unit "will serve as the single conduit for information and coordination" between the military and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Customs and Border Protection agents who currently patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One on Thursday he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard troops to the border to combat illegal crossings _ which are at record lows.
The president added he plans on keeping the troops there until the wall is built. The administration is looking into the costs of the deployment, Trump said.
Officials offered few details about the cell.
"This is not business as usual," DOD spokeswoman Dana White said. "The cell will last for the foreseeable future to make sure we surge our capacity to meet the president's enhanced border security goals."
Trump has bristled in recent days after not being able to convince Mexico or Congress to fund his much ballyhooed border wall.
He took credit for the decrease in crossings in a tweet Thursday morning, while justifying his troop surge with a warning: "Stop drugs!"
Mexican officials weighed in Thursday on the plan _ hinting that any militarization would have consequences.
The country's foreign relations secretary, Luis Videgaray Caso, tweeted that Department of Homeland Security head Kirstjen Nielsen assured him that troops would play only a supporting role in securing the border and not be armed.
Nielsen "clarified some aspects of the deployment," Videgaray said.
Pentagon officials said the troops would aid border agents with "aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support."
They would not say if the troops would be armed, only that forces always have a right to self-defense.
Mexico's Senate, meanwhile, passed a resolution calling for the suspension of cooperation on illegal immigration and drug trafficking in retaliation for Trump's decision.
National Guard contingents in states that border Mexico say they are waiting for guidance from Washington.
The National Guard in Texas said in a statement Thursday the deployment is in "very early planning stages."
