The Pentagon is expanding its control of the southern U.S. border with hundreds of square miles of federal land set to be transferred to the Defense Department.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made border security a top priority and views it as directly linked to national security. He has long advocated for increased measures to control unauthorized crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We have made incredible progress, and we’ll continue to work towards achieving 100% operational control of the border,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Wednesday.
Mr. Hegseth directed the Air Force and the Navy to establish a pair of National Defense Areas along the southern border.
The Navy will oversee the Yuma NDA, which will encompass federal property between Yuma and Tucson in southern Arizona, hugging a 140-mile stretch of the border. The Air Force will be responsible for the South Texas NDA, which includes federal property stretching 250 miles along the Rio Grande.
The Trump administration is using the NDAs so the military can be pressed into service to help enforce border security.
It will enable military personnel to assist with surveillance, monitoring, and apprehension of people attempting to cross unlawfully. The move will also allow prosecutors to file federal charges against trespassers.
About 8,500 military personnel are assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border to enhance the U.S. and Customs and Border Patrol’s mission to identify and track possible threats to border security.
Military personnel assigned to the JTF Southern Border have conducted more than 3,500 patrols, including more than 150 joint patrols with Customs and Border Protection and the Mexican military, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The first two NDAs were established early this year in New Mexico and West Texas. The New Mexico zone is an extension of the Army’s Fort Huachuca in Arizona, while the West Texas border enforcement zone is linked to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
More than 4,200 Texas National Guard soldiers and airmen were called up to support Operation Lone Star, a state border security initiative launched in March 2021 by Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The National Guard is also playing an essential role in protecting the U.S. southern border from illegal entry and maintaining the sovereignty, the territorial integrity, and the security of the United States,” Mr. Parnell said.
