Trump Awards Soldiers, Marines Border Defense Medal

The Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM) is a new U.S. military service medal created in 2025. It recognizes U.S. service members who deployed to the U.S.–Mexico border as part of Defense Department operations supporting the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — for example, missions under Joint Task Force–Southern Border involving patrolling, reinforcing barriers, and other non‑combat border security support. It replaces the Armed Forces Service Medal for this specific border mission and sits between the Korea Defense Service Medal and the Armed Forces Service Medal in the official order of precedence.

The Mexican Border Defense Medal was officially established on August 13, 2025, by a Department of Defense memorandum signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. That memo, issued under the secretary’s existing authority to create Defense‑wide decorations, created the medal “effective immediately” to recognize service members deployed to the U.S.‑Mexico border in support of CBP, and set its eligibility dates starting from January 20, 2025.

Eligibility is tied to specific border‑support deployments, not to a particular branch. According to the Defense Department memo and subsequent reporting:

• Who qualifies: U.S. service members (any branch, including active duty, Reserve, and National Guard when on qualifying federal orders) who are permanently assigned, attached, or detailed to a unit deployed in a designated DoD operation supporting CBP at the southern border.
• Time requirement: At least 30 days of qualifying service (consecutive or non‑consecutive) in that operation.
• Location requirement (area of eligibility): Within 100 miles of the U.S.–Mexico land border in Texas (including San Antonio), New Mexico, Arizona or California, or within 24 nautical miles of that border in adjacent U.S. waters.
• Date window: Service on or after January 20, 2025, continuing until a termination date is set by DoD.
• Relationship to the Armed Forces Service Medal (AFSM): Troops who previously received the AFSM for this border duty may apply to have it replaced by the MBDM, but cannot receive both for the same period of service.

Yes. The Mexican Border Defense Medal is an official Department of Defense campaign/service medal. It was created by a Defense Secretary memorandum, is listed by the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry among official "Campaign and Service Medals," and has a defined place in the formal order of precedence (after the Korea Defense Service Medal and before the Armed Forces Service Medal). DoD has directed the Defense Logistics Agency to procure and stock the medal for issue, which means it is authorized for wear and will be recorded in service members’ official personnel records like other U.S. military decorations.

Public reporting does not provide a complete, official list of all 13 soldiers and Marines or all of their units. The Defense Department and Army coverage of the White House ceremony identify two of the awardees: Army Sgt. Jhonier Marin, a reservist with the 808th Engineer Company, and Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Zeth Collins, who served as a welder and boom operator in support of Joint Task Force–Southern Border. The remaining recipients and their specific units have not been publicly named in official releases as of the available reporting.

Available coverage of the medal’s creation and the first award ceremony focuses on describing the new decoration and highlighting the Trump administration’s broader border‑security campaign. None of the major reports reviewed document any specific legal challenge, formal investigation, or widely reported controversy aimed solely at the existence of the Mexican Border Defense Medal or the decision to award it. Debate and political controversy are instead directed at the administration’s overall immigration and border‑enforcement policies, which the medal is meant to recognize, rather than at the medal itself.