The U.S. Navy announced in a statement Saturday that it has deployed another destroyer to the southern border to assist with ongoing maritime efforts to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
This is the deployment of the USS Spruance, which will support the U.S. Northern Command's mission to restore territorial integrity along the southern border by strengthening maritime initiatives and interagency collaboration, contributing to the fight against threats such as maritime terrorism, arms proliferation, transnational crime, and illegal immigration by sea.
General Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command, stated that the presence of the USS Spruance on the U.S. West Coast, combined with that of the USS Gravely in the Gulf of Mexico, will contribute to a "coordinated Department of Defense response to the president's executive order and demonstrates our determination to achieve operational control of the border."
The Spruance will be supported by a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), which conducts maritime interdiction, counter-piracy, homeland security, and humanitarian response missions, enhancing the ship's ability to execute maritime protection and combat missions.
In December 2024, the USS Spruance returned to Naval Station San Diego following a five-month deployment with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group in the Middle East.
