Another stretch of federal land along the Rio Grande River in South Texas is being transferred to the Air Force, creating the largest militarized border area to date as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to issue harsher legal punishments to migrants who cross into the U.S.
The new military zone is located in Cameron and Hidalgo Counties in Texas and will be transferred from land overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission, an entity that settles boundary and water treaty issues between the U.S. and Mexico.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the directive to create the new zone June 18, an Air Force news release said. The new area, once the land leases are transferred, will be part of Joint Base San Antonio — notably, the military installation itself is around 3 hours away from those counties.
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Creation of the newest national defense area follows the recent establishment of two other militarized border zones, one in New Mexico and another in West Texas. This new extension of Joint Base San Antonio is larger than both of those other areas combined, marking a massive expansion of utilizing troops and federal lands as part of President Donald Trump’s push for rapid deportations and deterring border crossings.
The move is alarming to some defense and legal experts like Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, D.C.
Kavanagh told Military.com in an interview that she sees the expansion of the military zones as a dangerous precedent, which could pave the way for even non-federal lands to be militarized in the future.
“The government is saying they see this militarized approach to border enforcement as preempting, or being more important than, other possible uses of this federal land,” Kavanagh said. “I’m not ruling out the possibility that this is something that they try to expand not just by militarizing federal lands to support their border agenda but by trying to take control of territory that currently isn’t federalized and doing the same thing.”
Migrants who have been charged with trespassing into the new military zones are hit with additional charges related to illegally entering Department of Defense property.
Military.com reported earlier this month there had been some of the first convictions of migrants in New Mexico and West Texas related to crossing into those respective military zones. Those followed dozens of cases in both states being dismissed by either judges or juries.
When asked by Military.com whether troops deployed to the border can handle the responsibility of the new militarized zone, Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesperson for Joint Task Force-Southern Border, said the force can fluctuate to other areas as necessary.
“One of the most vital unique military capabilities that the Department of Defense brings to bear is our ability to command and control, and task [to] organize our personnel across the 1,954 miles of southern border, driven by both intelligence and U.S. Border Patrol requirements,” Carmichael told Military.com.
Carmichael said that forces assigned to the Joint Task Force-Southern Border would be working with Customs and Border Protection agents to oversee crossings in the new area. It was not immediately clear whether the Air Force would be sending additional forces to support the new area.
Troops in the national defense areas can use “enhanced detection and monitoring through stationary positions and mobile patrols, temporarily detaining trespassers until they are transferred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities, and supporting the installation of temporary barriers and signage to secure the area” as part of their duties, the Air Force said in the news release.
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