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Donald Trump authorizes U.S. military to take control of land on southern border

Story by Zac Anderson and Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY
• 2h • 2 min read
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with military personnel as he visits the border area in Sunland Park, New Mexico, February 3, 2025.© Jose Luis Gonzalez, REUTERS

President Donald Trump is authorizing the U.S. military to take jurisdiction over federal lands along the southern border to help enforce his immigration agenda.
Trump issued a memorandum to the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture and Homeland Security late Friday titled "Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions."

The order directs the secretaries to facilitate the transfer of jurisdiction over federal land along the border so military activity along the border can "occur on a military installation under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense."

The lands would be designated as "National Defense Areas."
The order names the Roosevelt Reservation, a strip of land along the U.S. border with Mexico in California, Arizona and New Mexico, as one of the federal lands slated for military control. The Roosevelt Reservation is an easement roughly 60 feet wide, or "the distance from home plate to the pitcher’s mound,” said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America think tank in Washington, D.C.
The consequences DOD taking control of federal land at the border aren't immediately clear, he said, but it could result in more severe criminal charges for migrants who cross the border unlawfully.

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Migrants who cross the border on land under the Defense Department’s jurisdiction “would have trespassed on a military installation,” Isacson said. They could be subjected to charges beyond “entry without inspection,” a federal misdemeanor.
In the memorandum, Trump doubled down on the administration's assertion that there is an "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The southern border is under attack from a variety of threats," he said in the memorandum. "The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past."
Illegal border crossings have dropped dramatically in recent months, as the Trump administration continues the military build-up at the border and Mexico continues its own tough immigration enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 7,200 migrant encounters in March, down from more than 189,000 during the same month a year ago.

Donald Trump authorizes U.S. military to take control of land on southern border