By Josh Wingrove | Bloomberg
President Donald Trump issued a directive that expanded military control in federal lands near the border between the United States and Mexico, seeking to strengthen their efforts to take energetic measures against undocumented migration.
In a memorandum published Friday night, Trump ordered several cabinet secretaries to grant jurisdiction to the Department of Defense on Federal Lands along the border. These areas include the Roosevelt Reserve, a narrow strip of land along the southwest border in the states of Arizona, New Mexico and California, but exclude federal reserves of India.
Open the “allow military activities directed in this memorandum to occur in a military installation” along the border, according to the directive. Trump authorized the military to perform tasks, “including the construction of the border barrier and the detection patio and the monitoring team” and designate the areas as “National Defense Areas.”
The order also allows the Secretary of Defense “to exclude people from a military installation” according to the previous authorities, a power that potentially touches powers to expel migrants.
The powers will initially be implemented in a “limited sector of federal lands”, with an evaluation after 45 days of Friday’s order.
Trump has intensified the deportations of undocumented migrants from the support position, while seeking to fulfill his campaign promises to take energetic measures against illegal immigration and ensure the southwest border.
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