Two U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton were killed Tuesday when their vehicle rolled over while deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico, military officials said. A third Marine was hospitalized in critical condition.
The Marines, from Pendleton’s I Marine Expeditionary Force, were deployed as part of t Task Force Southern Border, which was established in March to oversee President Donald Trump’s border security initiatives.
The crash occurred around 8:50 a.m. near the city of Santa Teresa, located 40 miles south of Las Cruces, the task force said in a statement posted to the social media platform X. The Marines were on their way to El Paso, Texas, a I MEF spokesperson said.
The names of the Marines who died were being withheld pending notification of family. One service member was in critical condition at a local hospital, the military said.
Further details about the crash were not released.
The I Marine Expeditionary Force has been operating along the border since January. The Marines working along the San Diego border have primarily been reinforcing the existing U.S.-Mexico barriers with layers of concertina wire.
San Diego County sailors are also currently patrolling the border area by sea. The destroyer USS Stockdale left San Diego Bay over the weekend to take up position offshore of the U.S. and Mexico.
