Overview
- The move creates a National Defense Area along much of California’s boundary with Mexico, extending nearly from the Arizona line to the Otay Mountain Wilderness and passing communities including Tecate.
- It is the third public-land transfer for border enforcement this year, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framing the action as closing security gaps and advancing the president’s agenda.
- Interior labeled the area a high-traffic crossing zone, though Border Patrol arrests across the southern border have fallen to their slowest pace since the 1960s.
- Since April, the administration has designated multiple militarized zones across New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, deploying more than 7,000 troops with helicopters, drones, and surveillance systems.
- Legal experts say using military-designated zones for immigration enforcement conflicts with prohibitions on domestic military policing and risks politicizing the armed forces.