Army Sgt. Davis Duncan, left, and Sgt. Tyrese Stanley prepare to hook up a sling load to a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at Fort Bliss, Texas, on July 16, 2025. (Rynishia Lewis/U.S. Army)
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops serving along the southern border since Jan. 20 to support Border and Customs Protection agents can now receive the Mexican Border Defense Medal, according to a Pentagon memo.
A defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the authenticity of the Aug. 13 memo shared on social media but could not provide additional information.
To qualify for the Mexican Border Defense Medal, troops must have been “permanently assigned, attached, or detailed” to a unit that deployed as part of a designated Defense Department operation supporting federal border agents for 30 days, according to the memo.
Military personnel must have deployed within 100 nautical miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas including San Antonio, New Mexico, Arizona and California, or in U.S. waters up to 24 nautical miles from the border.
Eligible service members will receive the Mexican Border Defense Medal instead of the Armed Forces Service Medal, which had been awarded to troops supporting federal agents along the U.S.-Mexico border starting in 2019, according to the memo.
Active-duty, Reserve and National Guard troops began deploying to the southern border in April 2018 after President Donald Trump referred to the influx of migrants at the time as an “invasion.”
The Armed Forces Service Medal was created by executive order under former President Bill Clinton in 1996. It was given to troops who deployed to the border between May 2006 and July 2008 under former President George W. Bush. It has also been awarded to troops who have taken part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq and Africa.
Troops and veterans who have already received the Armed Forces Service Medal can apply with their military branches to receive the Mexican Border Defense Medal, but they cannot receive both medals for the same period of service, according to the memo.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made the crackdown on undocumented migrants one of its highest priorities.
About 8,500 troops are now deployed to the southern border working primarily to detect possible illegal activity, the Pentagon has said.
The military has established four military zones allowing troops to conduct law enforcement activities just as they would at military bases, including temporary detention, searches and crowd-control operations.
Similarly named medals were created more than a century ago.
The Mexican Service Medal was created in 1917 for troops who took part in operations in Mexico between 1911 and 1919.
The Mexican Border Service Medal, established in 1918, recognizes service members assigned to the U.S.-Mexico border between May 1916 and March 1917. The award also recognized those who served from January 1916 to April 1917, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The U.S. was then engaged in the Pancho Villa Expedition, a military operation conducted by the Army against the forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa.
