U.S. military presence along the southern border expands again

Last month, the federal government expanded the military’s presence along the southern border after transferring control of 285 acres of public land in Arizona to the Navy. Now, more than a third of the state’s border is under the jurisdiction of the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

The new allotment of land is the fourth installation of what are being referred to as “national defense areas.” They are large tracts of American soil that run along the Mexico border that have officially become part of military bases such as Fort Huachuca in Arizona and Fort Bliss in Texas.

The NDAs, which are subject to operational protocols of the military, now cover about a third of the entire southern border.

“As with any military installation, this land is under (the Department of Defense’s) administrative jurisdiction, which has been further delegated to MCAS Yuma,” Capt. Owen VanWyck, the communications and strategy director for MCAS Yuma, wrote in an email.

“This includes the authority to prevent unauthorized access and to detect and deter potential security threats to maintain security, order, and discipline, which may include apprehending those who enter without authorization.”

That means anyone who steps over the border from Mexico into the U.S. along the range of an NDA is trespassing on military grounds, which is a different category of legal infraction than crossing the border illegally and subject to higher penalties.

“Any person apprehended for trespassing (or committing other criminal offenses) on a military installation, regardless of citizenship,” VanWyck wrote, “will be transferred over to appropriate non-DOD law enforcement officials as promptly as practical for appropriate action.”

With the change of jurisdiction, the full might of the military’s infrastructure can now be leveraged in defending the borders of each base — which is, as a result of those land transfers, the southern border of the United States.

Rather than smaller law-enforcement agencies monitoring and defending against illegal immigration within public lands, the Joint Task Force-Southern Border — a task force that rolls up to the Defense Department’s Northern Command — is now responsible for the newly established territories.

By setting up those vast swaths of American land as part of military bases, the federal government is able to assist with immigration enforcement while sidestepping long-standing constitutional law — such as the Posse Comitatus Act from 1878 — that mostly prevents the use of the military in law enforcement efforts.

While there are those that argue it’s still an illegal use of the military to support law enforcement, it has been an effective part of the strategy to stop illegal border crossings since the first NDA was established this past April.

Over 1,400 people have been apprehended in NDAs since they were established and overall illegal border crossing encounters are down 93% year over year. Though, a spokesperson from the Joint Task Force-Southern Border made clear that less than 10 of those caught crossing into NDAs were actually temporarily detained by the military, as local law enforcement was on hand to conduct the vast majority of arrests.

How does it work?

On July 23rd, the Department of the Interior announced that it was transferring 285 acres of land to the Navy.

“By making this land available for border infrastructure improvements and defense operations, we are closing critical security gaps, stopping illegal activity and protecting both our nation and its natural resources from the damage caused by unchecked illegal immigration,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “This is about law and order, national sovereignty and using our public lands to defend the American people.”

The acres run in a strip along the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to and east of the Barry M. Goldwater Range of southern Arizona, wrote VanWyck.

When asked about when the Marines — who are, operationally, part of the Navy — began managing the area, VanWyck wrote that, “exercise of all necessary authority, direction, and command and control over the land has been assigned to MCAS Yuma from the Dept. of Navy.”

The Marines will be working closely with the federal and local law enforcement, too.

“MCAS Yuma has a long-standing relationship with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has been operating throughout the Barry M. Goldwater Range–West for some time," VanWyck wrote. “Additionally, MCAS Yuma will be working with the Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, who oversee national wildlife refuges; Bureau of Land Management, and Arizona Game and Fish regarding the NDA area.”

It is not uncommon for the military to assist with domestic issues, like natural disasters. In those instances, however, the federal agencies generally pay the military’s expenses. FEMA, for example, will pay the costs of using the Army in disaster cleanup.

In this instance, the financial responsibility for the deployments falls on the Navy, whose budgets are managed by congressional appropriation committees. “The Department of the Navy is assessing costs and will closely track all funds associated with administration of the NDA,” VanWyck wrote.

Where else are there NDAs?

The NDAs were established as a result of one of the many executive orders President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office.

One called “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” established the administration’s emphasis on addressing immigration and set the terms and rhetoric for how the issues are understood.

More specifically, another executive order — Clarifying the Military’s Role in Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States — called on the Defense Department to use the U.S. Northern Command to assist in sealing the southern border.

As a result of those orders, a 170-mile strip of noncontiguous land in New Mexico was designated on April 21st as an extension of Fort Huachuca, an Army base in Arizona.

On May 1st, a second NDA was created in west Texas, that spans a separate 63 miles of land between El Paso and Fort Hancock, which became an extension of Fort Bliss, another Army base.

A third was created along 250 miles of the Rio Grande River that runs from South Padre Island to Roma, Texas. Those lands came from the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, and are now under the jurisdiction of the Air Force.

All of the land transfers are considered temporary. Though the scale of border crossings is going down considerably, there are other issues — like the “illegal activity” Burgum mentioned — that the DOD is still focused on.

Regarding the longevity of the installations, VanWyck wrote that, “While the Yuma NDA is temporary and mission specific, we will not speculate about future requirements.”