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The Trump administration is adding another militarized zone to the southern US border, this time to support border security operations California,
The Interior Department said Wednesday it will transfer jurisdiction along most of California’s international border with Mexico navy “To reinforce the historic role that public lands have played in protecting national sovereignty.”
The newly designated demilitarized zone extends to approximately Arizona The state line for the Otay Mountain Wilderness crosses border communities including Imperial Valley and Tecate.
Since April, large stretches of the border have been designated a militarized zone, giving US troops the authority to detain immigrants accused of trespassing at Army, Air Force or Navy bases and authorize additional criminal charges, which could mean jail. More than 7,000 troops have been deployed along the border along with helicopters, drones and surveillance equipment.
The military strategy was initiated in April along a 170-mile (275-kilometer) stretch of the border in New Mexico and later expanded to parts of the border in Texas and Arizona.
The Interior Department has described California’s newest national defense area as a high-traffic area for illegal crossings by immigrants. But Border Patrol arrests along the southern U.S. border this year have fallen at their slowest pace since the 1960s, the President donald trumpPressure for mass deportation.
“By working with the Navy to address long-standing security deficiencies, we are strengthening the national defense, protecting our public lands from unlawful use, and advancing the President’s agenda,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a news release.
Trump’s emergency declaration puts the military in a central role in stopping migrant crossings between US ports of entry. Legal experts say the strategy violates restrictions on law enforcement by the military on US soil and pushes the armed forces into a potentially political mission.
The new militarized zone was announced Wednesday as a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop deploying the California National Guard to Los Angeles and return control of those troops to the state.
Trump called out more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval to bolster the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.