The USS Ger­ald R. Ford Car­ri­er Strike Group has en­tered the Caribbean Sea to sup­port Unit­ed States op­er­a­tions aimed at dis­man­tling transna­tion­al crim­i­nal or­gan­i­sa­tions and coun­ter­ing nar­co-ter­ror­ism, the U.S. South­ern Com­mand (SOUTH­COM) con­firmed yes­ter­day.

SOUTH­COM said the de­ploy­ment fol­lows a di­rec­tive from Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump, with Sec­re­tary of War Pe­te Hegseth or­der­ing the car­ri­er group to re­in­force on­go­ing mar­itime op­er­a­tions in the re­gion.

Adm. Alvin Holsey, Com­man­der of SOUTH­COM, said the mis­sion is in­tend­ed to strength­en se­cu­ri­ty ef­forts across the West­ern Hemi­sphere.