US military creates new military zone along border with Mexico

3/5/2025 6:35

The U.S. military has created a second military zone along the border with Mexico, adding an area in Texas where troops can temporarily detain migrants or trespassers after doing the same in New Mexico.



President Donald Trump launched an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign after taking office, increasing troops at the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.



The Trump administration earlier this month designated a 60-foot-wide (18.3-meter-wide) strip along a base in New Mexico as a "National Defense Area."



Late on Thursday, the U.S. military said that it had designated a second area along the border as the "Texas National Defense Area."



U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains jurisdiction over illegal border crossings in the area and troops would hand over migrants they detained to U.S. Border Patrol or other civilian law enforcement, according to the Defense Department.