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yesterday

Pentagon to Add Two National Defense Areas Along US-Mexico Border

The expansion brings the total to four National Defense Areas by treating border stretches near Joint Base San Antonio and MCAS Yuma as military installations for detaining migrants.

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 new zones will encompass about 250 miles of the Rio Grande near Joint Base San Antonio and over 100 miles of desert borderland at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
  • Under the NDA designation, service members can temporarily detain trespassers, perform cursory searches and hand migrants off to Customs and Border Protection.
  • The Justice Department secured its first two trespassing convictions in the New Mexico NDA this month while federal judges have dismissed dozens of cases for lack of signage and notification.
  • Approximately 11,900 active-duty troops and National Guard forces are deployed along the southern border as part of the administration’s broader immigration enforcement strategy.
  • Senators Jack Reed and Martin Heinrich contend the defense areas sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act and raise serious due-process concerns for migrants.