President Donald Trump has signed a directive to strengthen the control of the Department of Defense over federal territories near the border between the United States and Mexico, aimed at intensifying the fight against illegal migration. About this informs Bloomberg.
In a memorandum released late Friday, Trump ordered a number of departments to hand over land along the border to the Department of Defense. Among them are the territories of the Roosevelt Reservation, a narrow strip of land in the southwestern United States within the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Reservations remain outside the jurisdiction of the directive.
According to the document, this allows for “military measures specified in this memorandum at military facilities” along the border. Trump authorized the military to engage in “construction of border fences and placement of equipment for detection and monitoring”, and these territories themselves may receive the status of “zones of national defense”.
In addition, the order allows the Secretary of Defense to “exclude individuals from the territory of a military installation” under existing authority, which could create a legal basis for the deportation of migrants. At the first stage, the directive will be implemented on a “limited sector of federal lands”, with a further review of the results 45 days after the issuance of the decree.
