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Senate Hearing: Commanders Outline Strain of Border Deployments, Limited Cost Data on Guantanamo Plan
Summary
Commanders of U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee that expanded missions at the southern border and a phased migrant operation at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay are stretching resources, and that precise cost estimates for the Guantanamo expansion were not yet available.
Senate Armed Services Committee members pressed U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) commander General Gregory Guillot and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) commander Admiral Halsey on the readiness and budgetary impact of recent orders to support border security and expanded migrant operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.
The hearing opened with lawmakers citing multiple recent Presidential directives that added military roles at the southern border and ordered an expansion of a Migrant Operations Center (MOC) at Guantanamo Bay. Senators said the moves include deploying thousands of active-duty personnel and using military aircraft to transport migrants.
Why it matters: Committee members expressed concern that using military forces for migration and deportation tasks — and the associated use of strategic airlift — could reduce readiness for other missions and cost taxpayers substantially more than civilian alternatives. Several senators asked for prompt, transparent cost estimates and for notification if the operations begin to degrade readiness.
Guillot and Halsey described the military role as support to Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Guillot said NORTHCOM had not yet seen direct budgetary impacts from deportation flights, and that transport operations are managed by U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). Halsey said SOUTHCOM is providing logistics, facilities, medical care and other support in a phased approach to build MOC capacity, and that planning continues.
Committee members and witnesses gave numbers and operational details during the hearing: senators said roughly 2,000 active-duty troops were recently deployed to the border in addition to existing National Guard and reserve personnel; Guillot said there were about 5,000 Title 10 forces on the southern border at the time of testimony and that number could grow. Senators noted that about 100 migrants had been transported to Guantanamo so far, and the administration had directed planning for up to 30,000 in a phased approach. Admiral Halsey said the command was in ‘‘initial phases’’ and would provide cost estimates when available.
Several senators questioned transportation costs and unit readiness. One senator said a C-17 deportation flight that moved 104 migrants to India cost about $2.5 million; witnesses said TRANSCOM operates such flights and NORTHCOM/SOUTHCOM coordinate but do not operate them directly. Witnesses committed to follow up with the committee on which DOD accounts or TRANSCOM funds those flights draw on and to notify the committee if deployments begin to affect training or scheduled exercises.
On Guantanamo-specific costs, Admiral Halsey told senators he had no firm estimate for building to 30,000 capacity and described the work as phased; he agreed to provide estimates to the committee when available. Senators cited historical figures: a 2017 MilCon project to house 13,000 migrants previously was estimated at $33 million and current routine costs to maintain the Joint Task Force Guantanamo facility were described by a witness as about $100 million per year; witnesses cautioned that such figures are evolving and that services initially bear flow-in costs.
Ending: Both commanders pledged to provide the committee with requested cost information and to report if the operations materially degrade readiness. Senators pressed for oversight and for DOD to comply with statutory criteria that apply when the department is asked to perform civilian law-enforcement tasks.
