Coast Guard Adds to Gulf of Mexico Force

The Coast Guard is adding to its force at the Gulf of Mexico and other spots in the wake of President Trump's firing of the service branch's commandant. The plan calls for stepping up the Coast Guard's presence in waterways approaching Florida and the maritime border around Alaska, California, Hawaii, Texas, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, the Washington Post reports. The Coast Guard's statement refers to the "Gulf of America," one of the government's first employments of the name President Trump wants it to use for the Gulf of Mexico.

Defense officials said they've been working on possibilities for Trump to bolster the military presence on the southern border. A deployment of troops to the Mexican border is beginning. Adm. Kevin Lunday, Adm. Linda Lee Fagan's replacement, issued a statement saying the Coast Guard will, with other agencies, "detect, deter and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border." (More Coast Guard stories.)