- The Trump administration established a military-controlled “buffer zone” along the U.S.-Mexico border. There, U.S. Army soldiers will patrol a 170-mile area along the border between Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico.
- The administration labeled the area a “National Defense Area.”
- Soldiers will detain anyone who trespasses in the area, just as if they were trespassing on a military base.
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As Trump continued his crackdown on illegal border crossings, the administration ordered U.S. Army soldiers to patrol a 170-mile buffer zone along the southern border between Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. It labeled the area a “National Defense Area.”
“Last week, President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum directing federal agencies administering federal land on the border to make land available to the Defense Department in a new national defense area,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, April 15.
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Trump signs National Security Presidential Memorandum
Under the memorandum, the Trump administration ordered soldiers to apprehend trespassers in the buffer zone or on the property, akin to the consequences faced by those who illegally enter a military base. The military will temporarily hold any migrants who cross into the U.S. illegally while awaiting transfer to law enforcement, U.S. officials said.
American officials told ABC News that the initial phase of the zone would extend 170 miles from a base in southeastern Arizona eastward into New Mexico.
Some analysts believe the zone enables the administration to militarize the border and allows soldiers to undertake law enforcement duties by designating federal property as a military base, where they can detain migrants caught crossing illegally.
While the zone stretches 170 miles along the border, Leavitt said Trump aims to extend it by over 90 miles in Texas.
What would change about the military’s role at the border?
The plan broadens military involvement at the border, permitting active-duty soldiers to temporarily detain migrants until transferring them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
“This National Defense Area will enhance our ability to detect, interdict and prosecute the illegal aliens, criminal gangs and terrorists who were able to invade our country without consequence for the past four years under the Biden administration,” Leavitt said.
Officials determined that unauthorized crossings in the buffer zone qualify as trespassing rather than standard immigration violations.
However, legal experts warned in March that the plan could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts active-duty troops from participating in domestic law enforcement. That’s why the Trump administration categorized the apprehensions as trespassing violations instead of immigration violations.
Two soldiers killed, one injured in New Mexico crash
On April 15, a military vehicle accident near the New Mexico border resulted in the deaths of two service members and left a third person seriously injured.
The wreck occurred on New Mexico Highway 9 near the Santa Teresa border in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, about a dozen miles north of El Paso, Texas.
So far, the military has not released any information about the victims.
