EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico says a total of 82 people have been charged through Thursday for unauthorized entry into the military’s new buffer zone along the border with Mexico.
The charges follow the recent establishment of a 170-mile long, 60-foot-wide National Defense Area on federal land adjacent to the border wall in New Mexico. Signs in English and Spanish have been posted along that stretch.
Migrants have been arrested on charges of unlawful entry of military property since at least April 24 – though technically anyone, including U.S. citizens, could face sanctions. That has caused discomfort among leaders of civil rights organizations concerned about possible abuses and what they deem a “militarization” of border communities.
The buffer zone is under the watch of Fort Huachuca, Arizona-based Joint Task Force-Southern Border. JTF-SB is tasked with preventing illegal activities along the Mexican border in partnership with federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security.
“The Department of Justice will work hand in glove with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Border Patrol to gain 100 percent operational control of New Mexico’s 170-mile border with Mexico,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said in a statement on Thursday. “Trespassers into the National Defense Area will be Federally prosecuted – no exceptions.”
The federal government set up the NDA last month following a visit by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks.
Ellison said the charges mark the first “large-scale” use of a Title 50, a statute targeting unauthorized entry onto federally protected Defense property.
The buffer zone is on the Roosevelt Reserve. That’s federal land recently transferred by Department of the Interior to the Department of Defense.
The corridor now is considered an extension of U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Huachuca. As such, it is subject to enhanced military patrols and surveillance, with U.S. troops authorized to temporarily detain and transfer individuals to federal law enforcement for prosecution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A Border Report review of court documents involving alleged trespassers shows the suspects so far have been unauthorized migrants who were apprehended by the Border Patrol.