A 60-foot-wide strip of federal land along the southern border that runs through three states will be placed under military jurisdiction to help slow illegal border crossings and activities, the White House announced Friday.
The order directs the Armed Forces to temporarily take control of the Roosevelt Reservation — a strip of land that runs along the Mexican border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico — for security purposes, Politico reported.
Trump also authorized federal troops to operate in the area, which was established in 1907 by then-President Theodore Roosevelt.
In Trump’s first term, he had authorized the military to operate in the area to support getting a comprehensive border wall built.
“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” the memorandum, titled “Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions,” read.
“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.”
Under the order, “the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate actions … to provide for the use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense over such Federal lands, including the Roosevelt Reservation and excluding Federal Indian Reservations, that are reasonably necessary to enable military activities directed in this memorandum, including border-barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment.”
The memorandum also requires administration officials “to provide for transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over such Federal lands in accordance with applicable law to enable military activities directed in this memorandum to occur on a military installation under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and for the designation of such Federal lands as National Defense Areas by the Secretary of Defense.”
“The Secretary of the Interior shall allow the Secretary of Defense to use those portions of the Roosevelt Reservation not yet transferred or withdrawn under this memorandum,” the memo added. “The Secretary of Defense may determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission assigned” under Trump’s executive orders.
Should Trump expand this order to cover the entire southern border?
The move comes, Politico noted, as Trump asked the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to opine on whether the Insurrection Act of 1807 can be used to deport illegal immigrants to their home nations. Under that order, U.S. troops could be deployed to the southern border to aid in enforcement.
In addition to beefing up the military presence along the southern border, the order could also mean that illegal immigrants would face more serious criminal charges for crossings.
Speaking to USA Today, Adam Isacson, the director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank, said that immigrants who cross the border on the Roosevelt Reservation “would have trespassed on a military installation” and be subject to charges beyond “entry without inspection,” which is a federal misdemeanor.
Isacson — perhaps not surprisingly, given the source that sought him out — decried the move.
“There are now between four and five uniformed personnel for every migrant that was apprehended in March,” Isacson said.
“If you’ve got that kind of presence already, you don’t need this additional enforcement.”
The problem is that, when you look at the numbers, it becomes apparent why that kind of operational security is needed in the long term.
The number of migrants encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in March of 2025: 7,200. The number in March of 2024: 189,000.
And keep in mind, that number was one of the lower ones the Biden administration saw during the border crisis.
Now, obviously, the Trump administration probably won’t see those highs simply because of the fact that there’s actually someone in charge who cares about enforcement these days. That being said, there’s always the possibility of a rise in illegal immigration due to some unforeseen cause. One cannot assume that these numbers will stay low forever simply because the president decides the law should actually be enforced.
The last four years were proof of why strong border policy is needed. America can’t just let up now — and President Trump doesn’t look to be doing so anytime soon, as Friday evidenced. And, if it annoys the Adam Isacsons of the world, good. If they’re crowing, he must be doing something right.
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