President Trump plans to turn hundreds of miles of land at the border into a U.S. Army base
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A narrow stretch of federal lands running along a major portion of the U.S.-Mexico border has been transferred to the military in hopes of increasing migrant apprehensions under a new memo signed by President Donald Trump.
The Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-side strip of land that stretches across California, Arizona and New Mexico, will be treated as Department of Defense property.
After just days in office, President Trump dispatched thousands of troops to the southwest border in support roles. Now Trump has taken an unprecedented step.
A new memorandum from the president allows the military to circumvent the 19th century Posse Comitatus law which prohibits using the military in a law-enforcement role on American soil.
So, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to designate land along the border as a military installation, where border crossers could be arrested by soldiers for trespassing on a military base.
The specific border area is known as the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide strip of land owned by the federal government along the U.S. side of the border with Mexico.
It runs for 632 miles through California, Arizona and New Mexico. 62 miles of tribal land on the Tohono O'odham Reservation are excluded from the Trump order.
Legal experts say Trump's action will likely be challenged in court.
Senator Mark Kelly ((D-Ariz.) said, in a statement to an NBC affiliate in Phoenix, that Trump's plan is a bad idea.
"Troops can support in emergencies, but this plan goes far beyond that. It risks putting service members in roles they aren't trained for, undermining their readiness for their missions. That's a bad idea and not what we need at the border," Senator Kelly said in the statement.
Trump's plan to expand troops' border role comes as border crossings have plunged in recent months.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, just 7,200 migrant encounters were reported in March. That's down from more than 189,000 during the same month a year ago.
