Besides an order sending 1,500 active duty troops to the Mexican border, late today the

Defense Department announced it had been tasked with supporting the Department of Homeland

Securities deportation flights and assisting in the construction of temporary and permanent

physical barriers along the border.

For perspective, on all of this, we turn now to retired rear Admiral James McPherson.

He served as Undersecretary of the Army and as the Army's General Counsel during the

first Trump administration.

He also had a 25-year career in the Navy, serving as its top lawyer in uniform.

Admiral, welcome back to the news hours.

So the plans, as has been laid out so far, for the active duty troops at the southern border

and in support of these deportation flights.

Do you view that as an appropriate use of the military?

Well, thanks, Omna.

It's not unusual.

We have had the military on the border since the 1990s.

They've always been in a support role.

That is, supporting Customs and Border Protection

or the Border Patrol through transportation,

through medical support, through communications,

through surveillance.

They've never been involved directly in law enforcement.

That is, enforcing immigration laws

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