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Pentagon Establishes Two New National Defense Areas Along Southern Border

The additions expand Trump’s military buffer strategy to four zones that let service members hold migrants in areas treated as base extensions under the 2025 border emergency.

A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle patrols along the border wall, following the establishment of a 260-mile military zone along the southern U.S. border in New Mexico and Texas as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in Sunland Park, New Mexico, U.S., May 20, 2025. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo
This March 28, 2019 photo released by the US Marine Corps shows the Marine Corps Air Station Squadron barracks at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Yuma, Arizona.
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Overview

  • The Air Force will designate roughly 250 miles of the Rio Grande in Cameron and Hidalgo counties as part of Joint Base San Antonio and a 100-mile stretch in western Arizona as part of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
  • Service members under Joint Task Force–Southern Border will be authorized to temporarily detain individuals who cross into these NDAs before transferring them to Customs and Border Protection.
  • These two designations bring the total number of National Defense Areas to four following earlier zones in New Mexico in April and at Fort Bliss in May.
  • Apprehensions at the border have dropped sharply this year, with fewer than 5,500 arrests recorded from June 1 to 22 following the deployment.
  • Federal judges have issued mixed rulings on NDA trespassing cases, dismissing charges against migrants who lacked notice of restricted boundaries and securing limited convictions in New Mexico and Texas.