The military said two service members who participated in operations near the border with Mexico were killed and another serviceman was 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 have been deployed to support the joint task force on the southern border, where it served as military action last month as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut illegal transits.
The military did not release the names of the killed service members. A U.S. military official said the three were Marines and he spoke in anonymous condition to discuss operational issues.
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.
