USCG Surges Assets to Border Protection Following Trump’s Orders

 

The new Acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard reported that additional forces and equipment were being sent to key locations to enhance its primary mission of maritime border security. The statement came just hours after Admiral Kevin Lunday was elevated to lead the service after the Trump White House and acting head of the Department of Homeland Security dismissed Admiral Linda Fagan in part due to its perception of a failure in border security and coordination with DHS.

“Per the President’s Executive Orders, I have directed my operational commanders to immediately surge assets—cutters, aircraft, boats, and deployable specialized forces—to increase Coast Guard presence and focus,” in key areas wrote Lunday in a brief statement on Tuesday afternoon, January 21. 

Among the areas of focus cited in the announcement is the southeast U.S. border approaching Florida where it said the goal is to “deter and prevent a maritime mass migration from Haiti and/or Cuba.” Other areas include the border with the Bahamas, between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific, the maritime border between Texas and Mexico, and broader areas ranging from Alaska to Hawai’i, the U.S. territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Notably, the memo referenced the “Gulf of America” which is among the first times it was used after Trump issued an order for the federal government to use the name replacing the historic, and globally recognized, Gulf of Mexico nomenclature. 

The announcement said the U.S. Coast Guard would also provide, “Support to Customs and Border Protection on maritime portions of the southwest U.S. border.”

Admiral Lundy wrote, “Together, in coordination with our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense teammates, we will detect, deter, and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling, and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border.”

It is a continuation of one of the USCG’s core missions. Hours earlier, the USCG issued a press release reporting the interdiction of 26 individuals including nationals from Mexico, China, and Vietnam approximately one mile offshore from Oceanside Harbor, California on Monday, January 20. The Coast Guard Cutter Terrell Horne deployed a boarding team and transferred the individuals to U.S. Border Patrol custody. 

Since the beginning of 2025, the Coast Guard reported repatriating 20 Cubans found in a small boat approximately 36 miles south of Key West on December 30. The Coast Guard cutter Joseph Doyle also reported repatriating 58 people to the Dominican Republic, after two interdictions near Puerto Rico both on January 13.

The Miami Herald reports that illegal maritime migration from Haiti and Cuba slowed significantly starting in 2023 and 2024. It highlights increased patrols by the U.S. Coast Guard and Florida state authorities. Illegal arrivals went from “daily occurrences” in late 2022 and early 2023 to “barely one per month,” writes the Miami Herald. It notes the new efforts launched after the federal government was forced to close a park in the Florida Keys in January 2023 due to the number of migrants coming ashore.

Border security and increasing the efforts to stop illegal migrants was one of the key campaign promises of Donald Trump. The majority of the illegal migration comes overland and crosses the Rio Grande River along the U.S.-Mexico border.