The military has been authorized to take jurisdiction over federal land on the US-Mexico border, to secure it against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
In a new memorandum, the Secretaries of Defense, the Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security are ordered to help transfer the public lands in question to the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense.
These lands include the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot strip of land that runs across three states (California, Arizona and New Mexico). It was established by President Thedore Roosevelt in 1907 to keep all public lands along the border in those states “free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico.” Texas was excluded from the Reservation because the state retained all public lands upon its annexation and admission to the Union.
“The southern border is under siege,” President Trump said in a statement to accompany the move.
“Weak leadership in Washington has allowed criminal aliens, drug traffickers, and hostile actors to flood into our country unchecked. Today, we are taking back control. We will no longer tolerate lawlessness, and we will use every tool at our disposal—including our military—to defend the American people.”
President Trump’s new directive makes use of 43 USC 155, which allows the federal government to withdraw public lands for the purposes of national defense.
The directive is intended to further Executive Order 14167, which Trump signed on Inauguration Day. Order 14167 tasks the US military with “repelling the invasion” of illegal migrants and preventing unlawful crossings.
Importantly, the new directive gives military commanders the power to exclude people from designated zones on the public lands brought under DoD jurisdiction. In effect, this will create buffer zones where any trespassers face immediate detention and expulsion.
Border crossings have been radically reduced under President Donald Trump, reaching a monthly level that’s lower than the number who entered on a single day at the height of the Biden border crisis in 2023.
President Trump took to his social-media platform Truth Social to hail the news, at the beginning of last month.
“The month of February, my first full month in Office, had the LOWEST number of Illegal Immigrants trying to enter our Country in History – BY FAR! There were only 8,326 apprehensions of Illegals by Border Patrol at the U.S. – Mexico Border, all of whom were quickly ejected from our Nation or, when necessary, prosecuted for crimes against the United States of America
“This means that very few people came – The Invasion of our Country is OVER. In comparison, under Joe Biden, there were 300,000 Illegals crossing in one month, and virtually ALL of them were released into our Country. Thanks to the Trump Administration Policies, the Border is CLOSED to all Illegal Immigrants. Anyone who tries to illegally enter the U.S.A. will face significant criminal penalties and immediate deportation.”
