Trump team makes plans for military to hold migrants at border... buffer zone would become a temporary military installation

Washington Post ^ | March 19, 2025 | Dan Lamothe

[BeauBo]

The Trump administration is evaluating plans for the Pentagon to take control of a buffer zone along a sprawling stretch of the southern border (the Roosevelt Reservation - the first sixty feet from Mexico, in California, Arizona and New Mexico) and empower active-duty U.S. troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross into the United States illegally...

...In effect, the move would turn the buffer zone into an expansive satellite military installation.

[BeauBo]

Roosevelt Reservation in red:

...certain to raise questions about whether employing the military in this way runs afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that prohibits active-duty troops from most law enforcement missions...

"...By militarizing the buffer zone, the theory goes, any migrant apprehensions made by service members would be tantamount to catching trespassers on a military base: The troops involved would simply hold them until law enforcement arrives...

...it is not yet clear if Trump will approve the plan but that officials see value in establishing a national defense zone at the border that could come with enhanced penalties for migrants crossing illegally, including accelerated deportation...

...The plan under consideration involves a 60-foot-wide strip of the southern U.S. border that lies within the Roosevelt Reservation, federal land that President Theodore Roosevelt set aside for border security in 1907. It extends from New Mexico to California. Typically, the land is controlled by the Interior Department, though jurisdiction for parts of it have been temporarily transferred to the Pentagon in the past, including during the first Trump administration, to facilitate border wall construction.

U.S. law allows the federal government to transfer up to 5,000 acres at a time to the Defense Department without congressional approval (that would roughly be the whole ~700 miles of the 60 foot wide Roosevelt Reservation - the whole Mexican Border with CA, AZ and NM)...

...The issue is being handled differently in Texas, where the federal government owns less land at the border and National Guard troops deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have had a role detaining border crossers. National Guard members are trained for a variety of domestic missions, including law enforcement, while active-duty forces generally are not. (National Guard, unlike Federal Active Duty Military, can, and often are, legally deputized with arrest authority for law enforcement within the United States, such as for rioters or looters.)...

...In recent days, the Defense Department has expanded its presence along the southern border, establishing a joint task force with the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum in New York overseeing the mission from a headquarters at Fort Huachuca in southeastern Arizona. If the buffer zone plan is approved, the strip of land would probably become a temporary annex of an existing military installation, probably Huachuca...

...Among the most significant deployments approved thus far are the roughly 2,400 soldiers from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, from Fort Carson in Colorado. Soldiers from the unit are now at Fort Huachuca and Fort Bliss, an Army installation in El Paso, near the New Mexico border...

...their deployment is expected to include 20-ton armored Stryker combat vehicles... they can carry up to 11 soldiers at a time and possess long-range sensors and optics that defense officials consider useful in detection efforts"

Obviously, too cool to not do.

[circlecity]

‘bout time.

[ClearCase_guy]

Keep it as a 100% military operation — and watch some little judge in Maine try to stop it.

[ridesthemiles]

HOW MANY JUDGES WILL HAVE A HISSY FIT OVER THIS ???????

[factmart]

Great plan

[lapsus calami]

 

 

 

Whaaaat?

 

What are you people doing!

 

Stop that!

 

 

[calljack]

Always thought a military base that was one mile wide and 300 miles long on the border was a great idea.

[alloysteel]

A national border bristling with soldiers and weapons of war. Now that is what I call combat ready.

The first shot by the armed thugs of the cartels would be excuse enough to sweep a hundred miles across Mexican territory in pursuit of the malefactors.

It would be easier to send their drugs and human traffic into China. Might turn out to be more profitable as well.

[God luvs America]

and no legislation was needed- how about that??

[9YearLurker]

I’ve long been for this. I’d go further and conduct the bulk of military training on that border as well.

[rktman]

I’m thinkin’ a mile south of the current line. I hear Poland may have some land min........oh!

[The Louiswu]

Why not work to help make South America a liveable place so people want to stay there and make their lives or is there something I’m missing.

[butlerweave]

and the next fake judge is ? drum-roll

[ProtectOurFreedom]

No kidding. LONG LONG overdue. As somebody said a couple weeks ago, "All we needed was a new president."

How many of us have ever heard of the "Roosevelt Reservation"? I hadn't. More info about it provided below. Note that one concern in 1907 was DOPE SMUGGLING across the border!

The Roosevelt Reservation is a 60-foot-wide strip of land along the United States side of the U.S.-Mexico border, established by President Theodore Roosevelt through a Presidential Proclamation (No. 758, 35 Stat. 2136) on May 27, 1907. This federal land reservation spans the border in three of the four U.S. border states—California, Arizona, and New Mexico—covering roughly 700 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile total border length. Texas was excluded because, upon its annexation and admittance as a state in 1845, it retained ownership of its public lands, much of which was later sold to private parties, unlike the federal lands in the other states.

Roosevelt created the reservation to enhance border security by keeping public lands "free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico," as stated in the proclamation (available via Wikisource). At the time, smuggling—particularly of opium and other goods—was a growing concern, and the federal government sought to maintain control over the border zone to enforce customs and immigration policies. The proclamation withdrew these lands from public land laws (e.g., the General Mining Law of 1872 and Homestead Acts), reserving them exclusively for federal use, except where prior legal entries, settlements, or rights-of-way existed.

The reservation applies to all public lands within 60 feet of the international boundary in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Where rivers like the Rio Grande form the boundary, it extends 60 feet from the river’s margin on the U.S. side, though this is less relevant in these states as the Rio Grande primarily defines the Texas border.

Lands already legally claimed or reserved for other purposes (e.g., mining, homesteading, or military use) as of May 27, 1907, were excluded, provided claimants maintained compliance with applicable laws. The land could also be used for public highways but no other private purposes.

[DIRTYSECRET]

There’s always the Minutemen.

[butlerweave]

When will one of these fake judges tell Trump he can’t go to the bathroom during his Presidency ?

[gundog]

[lapsus calami]

 

 

 

 

[pfflier]

The Barry Goldwater range already runs along the border in Arizona near Yuma. The military already has jurisdiction to deal with trespassers on the range.

[blitz128]

A comedian (truly the smartest folks) once suggested building prisons along the southern border on the Mexican side.

Send out prisoners there, cheaper and they won’t want to go back.

Jobs for Mexicans.

Border will be blocked by 900 mile long prison😎