Washington DC [US], January 23 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Friday hinted at putting NATO to the test by invoking its Article 5 for the protection of America's southern border from illegal immigrants.

He made the statement in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The US President further said that this would also 'free up' a large number of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.

'Maybe we should have put NATO to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.'

The statement comes shortly after Trump in his speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, questioned NATO's commitment to defending the United States, asking whether the transatlantic alliance would 'be there for us'.

'The problem with NATO is that we'll be there for them 100%,' Trump said. 'But I'm not sure that they'll be there for us.'

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) comprises of 32 members, known as NATO Allies. A political and military alliance, it came into being in 1949. The present Secretary-General is Mark Rutte, who was the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

A key principle of the NATO alliance is Article 5, under which all members agree to come to the defence of any member state if it is attacked. Article 5 has been invoked once, by the United States after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Despite that history, Trump reiterated his doubts about whether allies would support the US in return.

'I know them all very well, I'm not sure that they'd be there,' he said. 'With all the money we expend, with all the blood, sweat and tears, I don't know that they'd be there for us.'

Trump's comments on NATO came alongside renewed focus on Greenland, where he asserted he would not use force to acquire the Arctic island even as he pressed for US control during his address at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

Trump has increasingly questioned the alliance's reliability amid his push for ownership of Greenland and objections raised by European allies over the US taking over the Danish territory.

The Trump 2.0 administration has seen a massive crackdown on illegal immigration into the United States. With Border security a top priority for the US President, second term has seen implementation of tougher enforcement restoring operational control of the southern border, with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement also doubling on the number of officers and agents from 10,000 to 22,000. (ANI)