Trump orders military to take control of federal land at southern border

The U.S. military will take control of a strip of federal land that spans three states along the southern border in an effort to stem illegal immigration, a memorandum Friday by President Donald Trump said. 

The memorandum, “Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions,” directs the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture and Homeland Security “to provide for the use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense over such Federal lands, including the Roosevelt Reservation and excluding Federal Indian Reservations, that are reasonably necessary to enable military activities.”

He wrote it could include “border-barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment.”

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Marine Corps troops weld and install concertina wire along the U.S.-Mexico Tijuana-San Diego Beach border last month.  (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” Trump wrote in the memorandum. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.”

The federal land, which consists of a narrow, 60-foot-deep strip at the border within the Roosevelt Reservation, would become a “military installation” designated as “National Defense Areas” where “military activities” would occur. 

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“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” Trump wrote in the memorandum. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.” (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Roosevelt Reservation covers California, New Mexico and Arizona and was designated as federal land by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 to keep the border secure. 

The memorandum added that the secretary of defense can “determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission” of keeping the border secure. 

The Roosevelt Reservation covers California, New Mexico and Arizona and was designated as federal land by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 to keep the border secure.  (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Trump campaigned on securing the border and “mass deportations” and has focused on both in the first months of his presidency.