United States: U.S. Department of Justice started its first migrant prosecutions because they illegally accessed military-controlled areas created by President Donald Trump’s border enforcement strategy, as per court documentation, as reported by Reuters.
Twenty-eight migrants received charges in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Monday for entering the 170-mile-long (274-km-long) Customs and Border Protection-controlled area where U.S. troops conduct surveillance.
New Mexico Defense Zone Expands
The new 60-foot-wide (18.3-meter-wide) strip established at the New Mexico base this month grants U.S. forces the ability to detain border-crossing migrants near border fencing installations.
Major Geoffrey Carmichael from the U.S. Army confirms that armed forces operating in the New Mexico National Defense Area have not apprehended any individuals attempting to trespass across the guarded area.
First Migrants Charged for Entering Military Zone on US Border | Newsmax World
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) April 30, 2025
The Department of Justice has begun the first prosecutions of migrants for illegally entering a military zone created along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Donald Trump's immigration… pic.twitter.com/mOKVSC9sWq
During his visit to the area, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that border wall expansion was the initial step toward establishing a larger protected zone.
“Any illegal attempting to enter that zone is entering a military base, ” Hegseth said in a video posted on social media. “You will be interdicted by U.S. troops and Border Patrol working together.”
The Department of Defense reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection holds control of illegal border crossings within the designated area alongside receiving detained migrants from troops for transfer to Border Patrol or civilian law enforcement.
Legal and Civil Liberty Concerns
According to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the defensive area represents a “dangerous erosion of the constitutional principle that the military should not be policing civilians.”
Immigrants recently detained in southernmost New Mexico now face a novel criminal charge of breaching a national defense area, after the U.S. Army assumed oversight of a 170-mile strip along the southern U.S. border.https://t.co/DHlkWe8DZd https://t.co/ewGf9XQX6X
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) April 30, 2025
Court records revealed that immigrants apprehended within this area received charges for unlawfully entering both America and restricted areas.
The Department of the U.S. Army acquired 110,000 acres (445 sq km) through a federal land transfer to establish the New Mexico National Defense Area.
Through the buffer zone, the Trump administration could employ military forces to arrest migrants without requiring application of the 1807 Insurrection Act that grants presidents authority to implement U.S. military forces during civil disorder situations.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots marked the most recent occasion when the Insurrection Act received federal implementation, as reported by Reuters.
Border Crossings Hit Record Low
Approximately 11,900 soldiers serve at the U.S. Southwest border, and official government data shows illegal migrant crossings reached an all-time historical minimum during March.