Border Crackdown: US Troops to Detain Migrants
President Donald Trump has ordered a dramatic escalation of military involvement in border security by authorizing troops to take control of a 60-foot-wide strip of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Friday night directive effectively creates a militarized buffer zone where soldiers can temporarily detain migrants for trespassing on what will now be classified as military installations—a move critics say deliberately circumvents long-standing restrictions on using the military for domestic law enforcement.
The Roosevelt Reservation, which runs across California, Arizona, and New Mexico, will be transferred to military jurisdiction under the memo sent to four cabinet secretaries, according to CNN. This transformation allows active-duty troops to “hold” migrants who cross into the zone until Customs and Border Protection agents arrive to process them for deportation.
“Because Trump has declared a national emergency at the border,” CNN reports, “Burgum ‘may make withdrawals, reservations, and restrictions of public lands to provide for the utilization of public lands by the Department of Defense.'” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins were the memo’s recipients.
Dancing Around Posse Comitatus
The administration appears to be crafting a careful legal strategy to navigate around the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the U.S. military from participating in domestic law enforcement. By designating the border zone as military property, any migrant crossing becomes a trespasser on a military installation rather than simply an immigration violator.
Legal experts suggest this semantic distinction is designed to create a loophole allowing troops to detain migrants. “By describing the zone as a ‘holding’ area, DoD could feasibly circumvent that law,” CNN notes, though this interpretation is likely to face immediate legal challenges from civil liberties organizations.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, described it on social media as “the Roosevelt Reservation crazy strategy,” allowing the military to claim migrants are being arrested for “trespassing on military property,” thereby attempting to bypass legal restrictions, according to The Independent.
Border Crossings Already in Free Fall
The militarization comes as border crossing numbers have already plummeted since Trump took office in January. Customs and Border Protection recorded just over 7,000 illegal crossings in March, down from 28,654 in February—a 75% drop in a single month. This dramatic decline follows Trump’s hard-line policies, including the deployment of thousands of troops, cancellation of temporary migrant protections, and the launch of a mass deportation campaign.
The current numbers represent a steep fall from the Biden-era peak of over 370,000 monthly crossings, raising questions about the necessity of further militarization given the already sharp reduction in border activity.
Despite the declining numbers, the administration continues to advance its legal argument that the United States is “under invasion” by migrants and cartels, thereby justifying emergency powers normally reserved for wartime scenarios.
BREAKING 🚨
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) April 12, 2025
Trump has ordered the military to take over public lands along the southern border
Raise your hand ✋️ if you agree with everything's Trump is doing to protect this country
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Strategic Phased Implementation
The military takeover will not happen all at once. According to the Nebraska Examiner, the memo “instructs its ‘phased’ implementation within 45 days, and says it could be expanded over time.” The directive specifies that Defense Secretary Hegseth can “extend activities under this memorandum to additional Federal lands along the southern border” at any time.
Initially, the military will establish control over specific sectors determined by the Defense Department, with provisions allowing for gradual expansion across the entire 60-foot-wide Roosevelt Reservation. The memo explicitly excludes Federal Indian Reservations from military jurisdiction.
Approximately 10,000 U.S. troops are already stationed along the border, four times the 2,500 deployed under the Biden administration. These forces have been utilizing surveillance drones and armored Stryker vehicles in their border operations.
Insurrection Act Looms on Horizon
The border militarization appears to be just one component of a broader strategy to increase military involvement in immigration enforcement. The memo comes ahead of a crucial deadline later this month when the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security are scheduled to provide recommendations to Trump on whether to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act.
Invoking this rarely-used law would allow for even greater military deployment and participation in law enforcement operations, potentially enabling armed forces to actively participate in the administration’s mass deportation campaign.
The administration has already demonstrated its willingness to employ emergency powers in immigration enforcement, using the seldom-invoked Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador without normal due process.
Reports have also emerged suggesting the administration is considering authorizing drone strikes against Mexican drug cartels operating on Mexican soil, further blurring the lines between immigration enforcement, military operations, and foreign policy.
States Already Border Militarized
The federal militarization comes on top of existing state-level military deployments. Texas has already stationed thousands of National Guard troops at the boundary line under Governor Greg Abbott’s controversial Operation Lone Star, creating multiple layers of military presence along the southern frontier.
The memo specifies that the Defense Department maintains the ability to request that state governors deploy additional National Guard units to the border, suggesting potential coordination between federal forces and state-level military operations.
As implementation begins, legal experts anticipate immediate court challenges to test whether the administration’s trespassing strategy successfully circumvents the Posse Comitatus Act’s restrictions or represents an unconstitutional expansion of military authority into domestic law enforcement.
